Damian Lillard's Victory Stare

Submission 6,538

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About

Damian Lillard's Victory Stare refers to a picture taken of Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard after he hit a game-winning shot against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 5 of the NBA's Western Conference Quarterfinals. The picture has been used in Accidental Renaissance jokes and Lillard's expression has been used in photoshops.

Origin

On April 23rd, 2019, the Portland Trail Blazers hosted the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 5 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals series. With the two teams tied at 115, Lillard hit a 37-foot three-point shot as time expired. Cameras caught him staring at the camera with a confident smirk on his face while his team celebrated around him (shown below).

Spread

The moment Lillard looked to the camera was quickly parodied by Twitter users. @KrisKoivisto^[1] compared Lillard's face to that of Supa Hot Fire, gaining over 50 retweets and 240 likes (shown below, left). User @coolghost101^[2] tweeted a Record Scratch Freeze Frame joke with the picture, gaining over 1,400 retweets and 7,100 likes (shown below, right).

Others commented on the artistic nature of the screenshot. Twitter user @mattwhitlockPM stated the picture looked like a renaissance painting, gaining over 1,400 retweets and 7,100 likes. User @laker_killer photoshopped the image into a picture frame at a museum, gaining 20 retweets and over 230 likes (shown below, right). Jokes were covered by The Daily Dot.^[3]