He’s lifted his game to new heights inside the NBA bubble, but what sets the Trail Blazers’ talismanic point guard apart is the fierce loyalty and outsider spirit that’s driven him from the start
Maybe it’s because he plays for a team in a smaller market. Or because more than half of his games don’t start until after 10pm on the east coast. Or because he’s only played in one conference finals, when more of the casuals start watching, since entering the league in 2012. Whatever the reason, Damian Lillard is not quite a household name beyond dedicated NBA circles.
It doesn’t make a lick of sense, though. The 30-year-old point guard for the Portland Trail Blazers is a five-time All-Star. He’s made the cover of NBA 2K, which, yes, is still a big deal. He’s released three LPs as Dame Dolla (an acronym for Different On Levels the Lord Allows) and, even more improbably, they don’t suck. His 37-foot buzzer-beater to eliminate the Thunder from last year’s playoffs and effectively bury the Russell Westbrook era in Oklahoma City is one of the greatest shots in playoff history (say nothing of the slew of memes his detached victory stare inspired).
51 points and seven assists in a 124-121 win over Philadelphia
61 points (matching his career high) and eight assists in a 134-131 win over Dallas
42 points and 12 assists in a 134-133 win over Brooklyn
I’m willing to not win it. If I can’t build it where I am. https://t.co/u6AzTx208Z
