Damian Lillard and Russell Westbrook's one-on-one battle has been one the most electrifying matchups of the first round of the NBA playoffs, with the trash talk starting to heat up as the series now sits at 2-1 to the Blazers, following OKC's home win today.
During the third quarter, Westbrook made the and-1 play over Lillard, doing his trademark 'rock the baby' celebration with his teammates on the bench getting involved.
4 TAKEAWAYS: OKC take Game 3 over the Trail Blazers behind Russell Westbrook's huge performance
Namely, Dennis Schroder who came armed with his own prop towel.
Rock that baby, OKC. pic.twitter.com/lsoDmfghCw
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) April 20, 2019
Russ went to the move again in the fourth quarter after scoring on Lillard, but it was Schroder who continued the antics late in the game, hitting Lillard with his famous 'Dame Time' tapping of the wrist after the Blazers point guard missed a free throw, much to the amusement of Lillard, who addressed it in the post-game press conference.
Dennis Schroder mocks "Dame Time" after Lillard misses late game free throw pic.twitter.com/ywRfsShy4L
— The Render (@TheRenderNBA) April 20, 2019
"Yeah I did see it," Lillard said when asked about Schroder. "I thought it was kind of funny you know that he waited so late in the game when he knew the game was decided to do it, and he also hadn't done that, hadn't pulled that out the first two games, so I thought that was interesting."
Dame couldn't help but laugh at Schroder's 4th quarter antics. 👀 pic.twitter.com/Yv9lSMTM7T
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 20, 2019
Lillard of course, torched the Thunder for 25 points in the third quarter of the game, finishing with 32 points on the night as he and Westbrook, who recorded 33 points and 11 assists, went back-and-forth throughout Game 3.
Paul George added to the ribbing throwing down a reverse jam just after the buzzer, instead of dribbling out the clock, a move Lillard said he wasn't really fazed by.
A little something extra from PG 😲 ... even though it didn't count. pic.twitter.com/zTLrrTZdWY
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) April 20, 2019
"It don't matter, the game was over, the game was decided," Lillard said post-game.
"Typically, people say you don't do stuff like that but honestly, I really couldn't care less. The game had been decided and if that's something that they needed to do to make themselves feel more dominant or feel better, then so be it."
After the buzzer, Evan Turner had some words for Ray Felton and Dennis Schroder (from what I could tell from the top of the 100 level). Cooler heads prevail, but Game 4 is gonna get ugly.
— Casey Holdahl (@CHold) April 20, 2019
Get your popcorn ready. Game 4 is set for Monday.