In sports, like in life, there are heartfelt returns to a place you once loved and still do… and then there are the returns you’re not so keen on.
Both were on display in the NBA on Thursday as Damian Lillard made his long-awaited return to Portland as a Milwaukee Buck, while Kevin Durant headed back to Brooklyn as a Phoenix Sun.
Lillard, who spent 11 years as a much-loved member of the Trail Blazers before seeking a trade to try and win a championship, admitted he got lost after initially heading into the home locker room at the Moda Center.
Watch an average of 9 NBA Regular Season games per week LIVE on ESPN, available via Kayo. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >
“I really didn’t know where to go,” Lillard said during a pregame news conference.
“I’d never been in the visitors locker room until today.”
The Blazers great also kept the door open for a return down the line.
“Because of how I feel about Portland,” Lillard said.
“How I feel about the organisation here and my time that I spent here, in my mind I’ve always felt like that’s how my career would end.
“Right now, I’m just in a space of like, this is where I am now. I’m in Milwaukee. I wanted the opportunity to contend and our team has an opportunity to contend for this year and years to come and I’m just living in that. But I definitely, when I was traded, I see a day where I’ll be in a Trail Blazer uniform again before I’m done.”
The Blazers showed two tribute videos during the first quarter, one on his on-court achievements and the other on his off-court impact, Lillard given a minute-long standing ovation from the crowd.
He revealed former teammate CJ McCollum called him on the way to the pre-game shootaround telling him to embrace the emotions of the night.
“My feelings about playing here, my feelings about putting my best foot forward for the organisation while I was here, it was genuine,” Lillard said.
“It weighed on me heavy, so I’m sure it’ll be a lot of emotions. Just being back out there and seeing the familiar faces. A lot of people in the crowd, I’m going to recognise those faces because I’ve seen them many times, so many years.
“So I’ll let it be what it is. I’m not going to cry, nothing like that. I’m not a big crier, but I’m not going to hide the emotions that I feel from it. I think it’s a moment that means a lot to me and a lot of other people.”
Lillard had 25 points but his Bucks copped a shock 119-116 loss.
Meanwhile the story wasn’t quite so sweet in Brooklyn, where Kevin Durant appeared baffled at a pre-game tribute video to celebrate his brief time attempting to build a superteam with the Nets.
While he was more cheered than booed after the video, which Durant had said he didn’t want to see, the boos soon built as Durant’s 33-point night led the Suns to victory.
He still praised the Nets for the video post-game, explaining: “There’s classy people here. They appreciate everybody who donned the jersey… And that shows a great organisation when you can appreciate everyone who stepped in and put their blood, sweat, and tears in. So I respect that.”
At one stage, Durant drove on Cam Thomas, which is about as preposterous a scenario as the Nets could envision.
He bullied his way into the lane during the third quarter and rose as Thomas continued reaching in. Durant easily flipped in a bucket, heard the whistle signalling a foul and glared not at Thomas but at fans behind the basket.
The one-time (and short-time) Nets superstar brought his right hand up and extended his index finger and thumb about an inch apart from each other: the universal symbol for too small.
On this night, the Nets indeed had brought the JV to a varsity game.
In Durant’s return to Brooklyn, his Suns dominated the Nets — more so in the style of play than the final score — in a 136-120 win at Barclays Center over a Jacque Vaughn group that was severely undermanned, a word we mean literally.
The Nets (19-28) snapped a brief two-game win streak and have not won three in a row since early December.
Giddey’s Thunder succumb to Timberwolves | 00:36
This one, against the superstar who followed Kyrie Irving out of Brooklyn last year, must have hurt a bit more than most. It had to hurt the poor wings who had to guard Jusuf Nurkic the most.
Without Ben Simmons, Dorian Finney-Smith and Day’Ron Sharpe, the Nets were forced to put comparative ants on the Suns’ 7-footer whenever Nic Claxton was off the court. (Claxton, too, couldn’t hang.)
Nurkic thoroughly dominated the game, finishing with 28 points on 11-of-15 shooting, so many back-ins that met no resistance.
Nurkic added 11 rebounds, six assists and two blocks, helping his team outrebound the Nets, 52-36.
Simmons, who sat for nearly three months before returning Monday, was on the bench one game later with a knee contusion.
Finney-Smith missed a second straight game with an ankle sprain and Sharpe remains out with a knee injury.
So it was wings such as Cam Johnson, Royce O’Neale and Spencer Dinwiddie who received the unfortunate matchup, and they were thrown around.
A team with Durant (33 points), Devin Booker (22 points) and Bradley Beal (12 points) was somehow led by a veteran center who has never been an All-Star.
Doncic heroics leads Mavs past Magic | 00:38
The Nets had hung around for the first half and entered the break down just three. They were being badly out-rebounded but were careful offensively, turning the ball over just twice in the half and shooting 51.1 percent from the field in the early going.
They were not going to outmuscle Nurkic, Durant & Co., but they were going to try to outshoot and out-hustle them, grabbing 11 steals.
The plan unravelled in the third quarter, when a 75-75 tie at 7:31 became the last time the Nets could feel good about themselves.
The Suns ripped off a 24-6 run on the back of 10 points from Durant, and the game never again became competitive.
A big fourth quarter from Cam Thomas (eight of his 25 points in the last period) kept the final score respectable, but the Nets were never within single digits in the fourth.
NBA SCORES (February 1 AEDT)
Bulls 117, Hornets 110
Pistons 121, Cavaliers 128
Clippers 125, Wizards 109
Kings 106, Heat 115
Pelicans 110, Rockets 99
Mavericks 87, Timberwolves 121
Magic 108, Spurs 98
Nuggets 100, Thunders 105
Suns 136, Nets 120
Bucks 116, Trail Blazers 119