After his less than stellar first game of the season Damian Lillard was already hearing the critics say he was washed up, considering that he touted being healthy before the season began. However, his naysayers spoke a little too soon, because he bounced back in spectacular fashion against a tough opponent in the Suns. During the game everything was clicking for him including his mind games towards Deandre Ayton.
Did Damian Lillard Tell Deandre Ayton with ‘You Think They Trust you With the Game on the Line? Hell nah’ Before He Missed Free Throws?
A pivotal moment of this intense matchup came in overtime with only a few seconds left in the game, and Deandre Ayton at the free throw line. The Suns were down by 2 points 111-113. Being the veternan that he is Damian Lillard took the oppurtunity to get in Ayton’s head with a few slick words. At first it looked like Damian Lillard said, “You think they trust you with the game on the line? Hell Nah”.
However, after the game Sean Highkin asked Damian Lillard what he said to Deandre Ayton at the free throw line, to which he allegedly replied “I just asked him, ‘have you ever been in this situation before?’ I wanted him to think about it a little bit, and then when he ignored me, I felt like he was thinking about it”.
Whatever he truly said, Damian Lillard’s mind game led to Deandre Ayton missing both free throws. It seemed like the 2022 version of the Lebron vs Gilbert Arenas free throw incident.
Damian Lillard finished his spectacular performance with 41 points on 12-25 shooting going 5-12 from deep. Jusuf Nurkic added 20 points and 17 rebounds. Suns fall to 1-1, but really they should be 0-2 because they got really lucky against Dallas a few days ago.
