Blazers guard Damian Lillard replaces injured Blake Griffin on Western Conference All-Star team
(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
The Los Angeles Clippers announced on Sunday that power forward Blake Griffin would under go surgery in his elbow for an infection.
And a few hours later, the NBA announced that Adam Silver selected Blazers guard Damian Lillard to replace Griffin and represent the Western Conference in the 2015 All-Star game in New York.
About 10 days ago, Lillard was left off the Western Conference reserves which led to an uproar in social media. Things got worse when he wasn’t named as Kobe Bryant’s injury replacement. Lillard was quoted as saying he felt “disrespected” and let his feelings be known on an Instagram post which he then edited.
Until last night, Lillard had been in a 3-point shooting slump but he had one of his better games from the field in weeks. His defense has also improved.
Lillard is in the top 3 in minutes, 6th in 3-pointers made, 8th in win shares and 12th in points per game.
The NBA All-Star game is on February 15 at Madison Square Garden in New York City at 5:30 on TNT.
Also, with Griffin out, there is a spot in the starting line-up open and it is possible, although not likely, that LaMarcus Aldridge is selected as a starter by Warriors coach Steve Kerr.
But now the Blazers have two All-Stars and Lillard is going to his second All-Star game in three seasons. It’s also the first time they’ve had two players selected to back-to-back All-Star games since 1977-78 when Maurice Lucas and Bill Walton did it.
Erik Gundersen
Erik Gundersen is the Trail Blazers beat reporter for The Columbian. He's a graduate of the Allen School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon in addition earning a degree in Spanish. He's covered the NBA for four seasons. You can also occasionally find his work on ESPN.com's NBA section for their TrueCities series. He also fist-bumped with Kanye West once. Follow @BlazerBanter on twitter for more Blazers and NBA news.