PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland Trail Blazers honored Damian Lillard on Monday night, in their first home game since Lillard surpassed Clyde Drexler as the leading scorer in team history.
Lillard was saluted with a standing ovation in the first quarter of Portland’s game against the Charlotte Hornets, as well as video messages from former teammates, coaches and current NBA players, including Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.
The Trail Blazers held a ceremony for Lillard on the court after the game.
“I don’t know how to describe it. It made me feel old a little bit,” said Lillard, who had 17 points and nine assists in the 124-113 win. “Just the appreciation from my teammates. I don’t big bro them even though a lot of them are much younger than me and probably grew up watching me in the NBA when they were in high school. But tonight to hear them say congratulations, it was almost admiration in their voice and respect. I knew it was there, but tonight I felt it even more.”
Most of the crowd stuck around for the postgame ceremony.
“Even from the crowd, them sticking around and clapping every 10 words. These are the people that have cheered me on all along,” Lillard said.
“They’ve seen my first preseason game all the way up to this point. I was just sitting there thinking about it. I was just like, I’ve gone from a 21-year-old to a 32-year-old right in front of these people’s eyes.”
Lillard passed Drexler a week ago on the road at Oklahoma City. The fans at Paycom Center gave Lillard an ovation as the Thunder public address announcer informed the crowd of his accomplishment.
Drexler, a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, had 18,040 points in 867 games for the Trail Blazers from 1983 to ’95. Lillard, 32, was playing in his 730th career game with Portland when he set the mark.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: www.espn.com