The Portland Trail Blazers and the Phoenix Suns needed overtime to determine a winner on Friday night. Ultimately, Damian Lillard was able to carry his team across the finish line, as Portland picked up a 113-111 win in overtime behind a 41-point, 7-rebound effort by their All-Star guard.
Avoiding a second overtime was not guaranteed. With that exact score and a little more than a second remaining in the game, Phoenix big man Deandre Ayton, a career 75 percent free throw shooter who his only other attempt from the charity stripe on the evening, got fouled and sent to the free throw line for a pair of shots.
Before that could happen, though, cameras caught Lillard trying to get into Ayton’s head, as he told the big man that he doesn’t think Phoenix trusts him at the free throw line in this sort of situation.
Dame in the ear of Deandre Ayton before he attempted the game-tying free throws. Looks at him in the eyes and says “hell nah” after walking away. Ayton then missed it. https://t.co/pU9Em4uMTC pic.twitter.com/RLfhowRyin
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) October 22, 2022
Lillard got asked about the exchange after the game, and made clear that he thought he got to Ayton due to his lack of a response.
Damian Lillard on what he said to Deandre Ayton at the foul line at the end: “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.”
— Sean Highkin (@highkin) October 22, 2022
Ayton had an otherwise good night, scoring 26 points on 12-for-22 shooting with six rebounds, three assists, a steal, and a block. But before the biggest moment of the night, Lillard was able to throw him off his game just enough to give the Suns their first loss of the year.