In the Portland Trail Blazers’ Game 1 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night, Damian Lillard went viral for shimmying to Too Short’s “Blow the Whistle” after hitting a big three-pointer. Blazers fans loved it. Twitter loved it. All of Oakland loved it, as the song is an East Oakland anthem.
Apparently the NBA did not love it.
The reason: Game 1 was theoretically a Lakers “home” game, by virtue of their #1 seed in the Western Conference. Had the contest been held in Staples Center rather than the Disney Campus in the Orlando bubble, Lillard’s shot might have been met with “Sound of Silence” or the sound of a whoopie cushion, but not an inspirational musical interlude.