Damian Lillard and Russell Westbrook have had a long history of on-court beef since January 2018 and Dame recently shared some of the moments she has had with Russ over the years.
Since his formative years in the league, Lillard has been the target of Westbrook.
But Dame says his battles with fellow guard Russ have been some of the funnest he's ever had on the basketball court.
“To be honest, it was really fun with Russ. “My first 5-6 years, he was a bully,” Lillard said recently Group 520 a podcast. “They were on TV all the time, Russ didn't care if it was a big game, if someone was injured and he was playing against a backup – he didn't care. He tried to do it to everyone.”
At first, Dame didn't take Westbrook's anger personally, but he began to realize that things were personal when Russ raised his game against him during his OKC days.
“I just remember when I was like a rookie or sophomore, he used to give me 50 all the time,” Lillard said. “He would be shooting at me so much that KD would be going crazy, like, “Pass the ball!' He always shoots. When I saw that it was so, that's when I started to take you as a person. I know he's always against everyone, but he's really trying to come get me. That's when it got personal. “
The Blazers rebuilt around Lillard and that's when Dame said things started to heat up.
“I'm starting to go back and I'm starting to have the ball more when we re-do it,” Lillard said. “He noticed that I was more bossy, so I was more aggressive towards him. That's when it turned into talking… Every game, it was automatic. I came to the stadium knowing that it's open tonight, something is happening.”
Despite all their past antics, Lillard doesn't care about Westbrook when they're off the court.
“He's a cool guy, Russ is cool,” Lillard said. “We are out of court, we are recovering. But on the court, he took that approach, and he's not the one who hits me, I don't care who he is.”
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