Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard made his long-awaited return to the starting lineup on Wednesday against the Washington Wizards. The Blazers went 2-4 during the six games that Lillard missed while he nursed his strained groin. As Jamie Goldberg of The Oregonian writes, it was hard on Lillard to miss games with the Blazers in the thick of the playoff race:
“I was just trying to keep calm,” Lillard said. “It was harder than normal. Every other time I’ve had to miss games, it was like early in the season or middle of the season and it wasn’t such an important time.