The first round of the NBA playoffs has been set, and one of the more intriguing matchups will be the one between the Portland Trail Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder. There is not a lot of love lost between the two Western Conference teams, and Damian Lillard is making no effort to hide that.
When it became official that the No. 3 Blazers will take on the No. 6 Thunder, Lillard admitted to reporters that there is “something there” in terms of tension between the two teams.
Blazers vs. OKC. Two teams that do not like each other.
"There's something there,'' Damian Lillard said tonight about the tension between the two teams. "There's something there.''
— Jason Quick (@jwquick) April 11, 2019
That isn’t exactly a secret. Earlier this season, Lillard and Russell Westbrook had some heated moments and traded words during a game. Westbrook got physical with Jusuf Nurkic during the same game, and Nurkic trolled him on Twitter after Westbrook called the Blazers big man a “clown.”
The rivalry didn’t end there, as Westbrook also committed a foul on Nurkic last month that many felt was dirty and intentional.
If you like storylines in the playoffs, the Oklahoma City-Portland series will be one to watch.
