Lillard Time Extends to Pop-A-Shot as Team Bonds Off-Court

The latest edition of ‘Lillard Time,’ as witnessed Sunday night versus the Oklahoma City Thunder, has apparently yet to expire.

Enjoying a night off, Lillard and a few of his Trail Blazer teammates enjoyed the College Football Playoff championship game at a local Dave and Buster’s… And of course, they eventually found their way to the Pop-A-Shot machine for some friendly competition.

“A couple of us went to Dave and Buster’s last night, and of course, we end up at the basketball court for most of the night,” Lillard said following the team’s practice Tuesday morning. “I was beating everybody, so Meyers [Leonard] thought he could get me. He failed.”

Workin’ on jumpers with @damianlillard #RipCity #DaveAndBusters

A video posted by Meyers Leonard (@meyersleonard11) on Jan 11, 2016 at 11:27pm PST

In Leonard’s defense, the odds were automatically stacked against him following Lillard’s lights-out shooting in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s win. The big man went on to retort Lillard’s claim, citing that the game might not have been fair.

“I’ll say this: Somehow, all the balls kept going to his side,” Leonard said. “We had two ties and I think I had two losses. I never beat him, but you know how that goes.”

Regardless of the victor, the night out served as another reminder of the strong bond among this year’s squad. The NBA season is hectic and full of travel; players often see their teammates more than their spouses, children and other family and friends. It’s reasonable to think the players would prefer time away from each other on a rare night off, instead this season’s Trail Blazers continue to gravitate toward each other off the court.

“You trust each other from a basketball perspective when you’re inside the lines, that’s just the way it is,” Leonard explained. “But it seems like when you have closer friendships off the court, the chemistry just seems to be even better. Last night, it was kinda random, but it was Dame, CJ [McCollum], Ed [Davis] and me just playing little kid games at Dave and Buster’s… Why? I don’t know, but it was fun.”

“It think it’s just cool that we can do stuff like that,” echoed Lillard. “It wasn’t like something that we planned for a long time, it was just like ‘Let’s go to Dave and Buster’s,’ and then it got passed along to the next guy and the next guy. We ended up having a big group at Dave and Buster’s so that was pretty cool… And it was a slow night, so that was perfect.”

Lillard, Leonard, McCollum and Davis weren’t the only teammates bonding Monday night, however. Portland’s resident “sons” Noah Vonleh, Luis Montero and Cliff Alexander spent the evening at a local bowling alley together.

Though Vonleh claims to be the best bowler after the fact, he said there was no trash talking on the lanes, despite Montero’s growing reputation.

“I was up for most of the game, but one of our friends that came with us won, then Cliff came back in the second game,” said Vonleh. “Luis has a pretty good stroke or bowl or whatever, but overall if we had to go out of 10 games, I’d say I’m the best bowler.

“We weren’t talking trash at bowling, we were just trying to have fun, kick it. As we keep going, it gets more competitive and there’s going to be some talking trash.”

Like the Blazer veterans, Vonleh believes the bond off the court carries over to better understanding in game situations.

“It’s important to just get to know guys off the court, having fun,” he said. “It translates over to the court. We have fun off the court; we have fun on the court.

“We just have better chemistry with each other.”

Next Article

NYK 120, BOS 114: Knicks Overcome Adversity to Beat Rival Celtics