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Lillard rebuts Green's 'doubt' comments: 'Whatever he needed to tell himself'

Kyle Terada / USA TODAY Sports

The Portland Trail Blazers notched a huge Game 3 win to get on the board in their second-round series against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday, but Warriors forward Draymond Green suggested after the game that the Blazers won in spite of themselves.

Related: Lillard hits consecutive ridiculous treys to ice Game 3

"That team, they had doubt," Green said. "I could tell in the first quarter, they had doubt and we didn't take advantage of that."

Blazers point guard Damian Lillard, who hit eight 3-pointers on his way to a playoff career-high 40 points, predictably disagreed with that assessment.

"I don't know what kinda games he playing, but we don't play games over here," Lillard told reporters Sunday. "There was never any doubt in our minds, but maybe he needed to tell himself whatever he needed to tell himself. There was never any doubt; if there's any doubt, you don't beat a championship team.

"If that's what he has to tell himself, then that's perfectly fine."

Green and Lillard have both turned chip-on-the-shoulder, nobody-believed-in-me narratives into something of an art form during their projection-busting NBA careers. Green's mission for now is to prove he can lead the defending champion Warriors to the Western Conference finals in the absence of reigning MVP Steph Curry. Lillard, for his part, is trying to prove the Blazers - who nobody expected to even sniff the playoffs, let alone win a series - aren't just happy to be here.

"They say a series doesn't really start until a team wins on a road," Lillard said. "If we can take care of home the same way they did ... I think in the first two games, especially the second game, we really challenged them. We had control of game for a lot of that game, so we know that we're capable of getting it done. It'd be great to take care of home and go back (to Oakland) with it tied up."

Green vowed that the Warriors would win Game 4. Lillard will likely have something to say about it. Monday night will tell.

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