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Damian Lillard led the Portland Trailblazers in a hard-fought loss to the LA Clippers in the bubble. Every game is must-win for Portland, especially with the way the Suns and Spurs have risen up the rankings and currently sit half a game out of the 9th seed. Portland is still one game and a half behind the sinking Memphis. With three games left, Portland cannot risk losing any games.

Portland was in cruise control against the Clippers but ended up dropping the game behind a second-half Clippers comeback. Damian Lillard could have given Portland the lead in the fourth but missed some crucial free throws. This led to Patrick Beverley mocking Lillard’s nickname ‘Dame Time’ which refers to how Lillard closes out close games. This nickname was cultivated after Lillard hit a game-winning shot in 2014 against the Houston Rockets, a team Beverley was on. He repeated the same by eliminating the Paul George featuring OKC Thunder last season.

Dame fired back at PatBev in the post-game conference and referenced his game-winning shots over both PatBev and Paul George. This spilled over to Instagram, with all three men taking shots at each other.

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Damian Lillard against Patrick Beverley and Paul George

Lillard’s rivalry with Patrick Beverley is akin to the rivalry most elite point guards in the league have with him. It can be tough to not engage in Beverley’s mind-games. Taunting Dame after he missed the free throws was designed to generate the reaction that it has. Beverley has never been an elite guard in this league, so he has become an elite defender with his hustle play. He is also an instigator, with this being another example of PatBev.

Lillard’s rivalry with Paul George has never been pronounced. The shot Lillard hit over George blew up the entire OKC Thunder franchise, with George being traded to the Clippers to begin the rebuild. Russell Westbrook has had a very open rivalry with Lillard as well.

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People don’t like you when you keep hitting game-winning buzzer-beaters to eliminate them from the playoffs.

Source: Bleacher Report Twitter, Bleacher Report Twitter, Bleacher Report Instagram 

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