“I got killed in the media,” Paul George finally breaks silence about one of the MOST HUMILIATING moments of his career
Damian Lillard sent the Oklahoma City Thunder home during the 2019 playoffs, the result of which was a tragic dark age for the latter and specifically Paul George.
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Damian Lillard's game winner against Paul George and the OKC Thunder. (Image Via NBA)
“Lillard… chance to send the Thunder home”, “Lillard long range three… and it’s good, at the buzzer!” These few sentences will never leave the mind of an NBA fan as they bring back one of the craziest, most hype plays this generation has ever seen. It all goes back to April 23, 2019, the day of Game 5 between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Portland Trail Blazers. The first round of the playoffs saw a matchup between two giants in Damian Lillard and Paul George.
Everyone knows what happened. With just under two seconds left on the clock, Lillard shot from 35ft while George defended. The shot went in and the rest was history, but George, on his Podcast P show, along with DeMar DeRozan, sat down to discuss the same. George, in retrospect, said, “When that play is going down, I’m in front of him. I’m like watching the time behind him, and it’s going down. ‘At what point is he going to make his move.’ And I see him sizing me up, so I’m like ‘I know this n***a is not about to shoot from here.’”
But Lillard did shoot, and the result was shocking for everyone, but George took it to a different level when he said he felt the shot was terrible. George, immediately after the game, said to the media, “That’s a bad shot. I don’t care what anybody says. That’s a bad shot.” Back to the podcast, George then said, “At this point, I realize it’s gon’ be a tough shot so I jump before he jumps. He side stepped it and … huh. The whole time I’m like… that s**t was like a Gatorade commercial.”
The host then asked DeRozan if George played the move correctly. To which DeRozan replied, “Yeah, this is what people don’t understand. If you’ve not been in that situation, with that type of a player, you don’t know what it’s like. 35-feet away from the basket, it’s a tough fu****g shot that only maybe only two people in our league can make that with ease.”
George then went on to talk about his mental state during that time. He said, “I was emotional during that time, I got killed in the media. Dame said ‘aw he hatin’.’” George then spoke about what he felt about the shot. He said, “It was a bad shot but to his respect… hell of a shooter. It does suck to be on the bad side of such an iconic moment.”
Damian Lillard’s game-winner over Paul George sent OKC to the dark ages
The aftermath of Damian Lillard’s game-winner over OKC was nothing short of tragic for the losers. While Lillard’s shot got Portland their first playoff series in the 3 years previous to that season, OKC suffered. Paul George was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers for Danilo Gallinari, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and other draft picks, including five first-round selections.
Russell Westbrook also requested a trade, which was eventually granted to the player. Westbrook was traded to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Chris Paul, first-round picks in 2024 and 2026, and the right to swap first-rounders in 2021 and 2025. While such trade was unusual, it highlighted the importance of Westbrook in the squad.
Oklahoma City Thunder had a tough time post the defeat, only making the playoffs once, in 2020. Even in that year, the team lost in Round 1 of the playoffs itself. The #5 seeded Thunder faced off against the #4 seeded Rockets in Round 1 that season. The Thunder also just missed the playoffs this time as they ended their season as the #10 seed. This was a result of them losing the play-ins to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who went on to face the Denver Nuggets.
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Harshit Singh
(434 Articles Published)