Damian Lillard wanted Deandre Ayton to 'think about' magnitude of free throws in Suns overtime loss

PORTLAND – Damian Lillard just had one simple, but very important question for Deandre Ayton with 1.2 seconds left in Phoenix’s 113-111 overtime loss to Portland.

“I said ‘Have you ever been in this situation before’ 'cause it's not easy when you have to make the free throws,” Lillard said. ‘That’s not an easy situation to be in 'cause the whole game doesn’t come down to one possession. It’s a lot of things that happen, but in a way, you’re looking at it like, this is a chance to tie the game.”

Lillard just wanted the big fella to “think about it a little bit,” but Ayton said he wasn’t paying the Blazers All-Star any mind.

“I’m focused on making the shot,” Ayton said.

Lillard wasn’t so sure about that.

“He ignored and when he ignored me, I was like, I’m pretty sure he’s thinking about it,” Lillard said. “These big free throws.”

Ayton has been in pressure situations, but this was different.

He’s never had a chance to force a second overtime by making two free throws with a sellout crowd of 19,393 screaming from the floor to the ceiling at Moda Center.

“That’s good for you, it builds character,” Suns All-Star Devin Booker said.

Once Ayton missed the first, Booker and Mikal Bridges talked to him.

Scoring 26 points, Ayton knew what he had to do.

“Once I know I missed the first shot, I said, OK, what’s the next thing,” he said. “Coach (Monty Williams) said, ‘Yo, you’ve got to miss the second one.'”

The odds were heavily against him missing the second free throw and having either Jock Landale or Bismack Biyombo grab the offensive rebound and put the ball back in before time expired to force as second OT.

Ayton did his part.

He executed the missed free throw as good as one could to give Landale a chance for the rebound.

“I had a great miss,” Ayton proudly said.

Landale grabbed the offensive board over Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic, had the ball right at the rim, but shot it too hard off the backboard on the miss.

"I had such a great look," Landale said. "Just botched it, bro. That's something that I have to get done for the team and that's what sits so poorly with me. I'm subbed in to get a job done as a good offensive rebounder and I've just got to make that play happen."

So as big as Ayton’s first miss was, the one he misfired on purpose still gave Phoenix a chance to tie the game and extend it another five minutes.

“I was more impressed with his second free throw,” Booker said. “He missed it right where we wanted it to and we got a second chance at it. Those are those certain plays that you drill in practice, but you never know if that situation is going to come about, and we executed it pretty well. We got Jock the ball and I think he had a good look at it.”

Booker pointed out he missed a 3 that would’ve given the Suns the lead with 8.7 seconds in regulation.

“That’s part of the game,” he said. “It’s how you move on.”

That’s exactly what Chris Paul wants Ayton to do.

“You move on to the next game,” he said.

The next game is Sunday in Los Angeles against the Clippers.

Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Deandre Ayton misses big FT after Damian Lillard asked him question