Trail Blazers' Meyers Leonard defends Damian Lillard following series sweep

May 21 (UPI) -- Portland power forward Meyers Leonard came to the defense of star guard Damian Lillard after the Golden State Warriors swept the Trail Blazers in the NBA Western Conference finals.

Leonard addressed the critiques on Leonard's performance in the series and directed critics to watch more game film.

"Dame and I have been here together seven years, and I study a lot of film," Leonard told reporters. "For anyone who thinks that he wasn't productive, or he should have made more shots, or he should have scored more, go watch the film. They throw a lot of bodies at him. Even if he gets blitzed like you said, he's getting downhill and there's guys on the help side that are essentially saying, 'Damian Lillard, you are not going to beat us.'

"I just want to make sure the naysayers know how much of an impact he has, how great of a leader he is, and his willingness to find the next man and count on them to make a play."

Lillard constantly drew double-teams from the Warriors and struggled to generate any offense at times. He averaged 22.3 points per game and failed to score at least 30 points in any of the games. He shot below 38 percent in three out of the four contests in the series.

Lillard, who suffered separated ribs in Game 2 when Warriors center Kevon Looney fell on him, had his best outing in Monday night's Game 4. He had 28 points, 12 assists and four rebounds, and had his highest shooting percentage (45.8) in the series.

The Warriors defeated Portland 119-117 in overtime Monday night. Golden State plays the winner of the Toronto Raptors-Milwaukee Bucks series in the NBA Finals.