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Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum Talked an Immense Amount of Trash After the Clippers Choked in Game 7

In Wednesday’s Hot Clicks: Two Blazers stars thoroughly enjoyed the Clippers’ loss, Amir Garrett was thrilled to address the media after his first save and more.

Dan Gartland

No remorse

The Clippers had been trendy picks to win the 2019–20 NBA championship for about 14 months, ever since they landed Paul George and Kawhi Leonard in early July 2019. Fans salivated at the thought of an all–Los Angeles Western Conference Finals, which still would have been fun even if it took place in the NBA’s Orlando bubble. We won’t get that series, though, because the Clippers blew a 3–1 lead in their second-round series against the Nuggets and are going home after getting run out of the gym in Game 7. 

The outcome was hardly in doubt throughout the fourth quarter, as Denver quickly extended its lead to as much as 20. That gave fans watching at home plenty of time to get some jokes off at the Clips’ expense. No one enjoyed seeing the Clippers choke as much as Blazers stars Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, though. 

Lillard has a history with George, having hit a ridiculous 37-foot game-winner right in PG’s face to send the Thunder home in the first round last year and end the George–Russell Westbrook era in OKC. George called it a “bad shot” and Lillard countered by saying George played “bad defense.”

George took a bunch of bad shots in Game 7, going 4-of-16 from the field (2-of-11 from three), but none worse than this one with just over four minutes remaining that clanged off the side of the backboard. 

A fan on Twitter asked Lillard for his thoughts on the brick, and Dame couldn’t resist taking a jab. 

Lillard has individual beef with George, but the whole Blazers team has issues with the Clippers. Last month, while the league was finishing out the regular season in the bubble and Portland was fighting for a playoff spot, the Blazers lost a game on two missed free throws by Lillard. Clippers guard Patrick Beverly ate that up, shouting “Dame time!” from the sideline and later joking on Instagram that the Blazers were destined for a Cancún vacation rather than the postseason. 

As the Clippers were in the process of collapsing, McCollum threw the Cancún remark right back in Beverly’s face. 

McCollum really went in on the Clippers. He sent tweet after tweet having fun at their expense. 

The coup de grâce was McCollum's bringing up the Clippers’ vote to cancel the playoffs after the Bucks’ strike.

The NBA is at its best when two sides have a legitimate distaste for each other.

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Dan Gartland
DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).

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