After Damian Lillard had some spirited Mamba-esque performances recently, a video of Kobe Bryant praising him resurfaced. It was back from Lillard’s rookie season in 2013. After Bryant’s Lakers played Lillard’s Blazers, in the post-game interview, Kobe praised the rookie. “That boy is serious”, Bryant said. “He’s not afraid of anything.”
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Now former NBA player Raja Bell has pointed out the similarities between the two.
During his appearance on ‘The Ringer NBA Show’, Bell said, “They both have that killer’ mentality. I feel like Dame is the closest thing to Kobe that there is in the game. I don’t mean that from the standpoint of the way they look doing it, I’m talking about mentality, where it is always in assassin mode type of thing with them. Their always kind of creating a chip.”
Bell says Damian Lillard is a problem
Bell continued, “There is just always something to prove and you feel that when you watch them play, there is the respect that they feel like they have earned and they are not given and the greats have to do that, right? That’s what keeps you on point and keeps you questing for the next thing. He is, for me, a problem.”
Being part of two All-Defensive teams, Bell knows a thing or two about defense. He talked about how hard it is to guard Lillard. “If I had to guard him, I don’t even know really where I would start. The range is what it is, and he is shifty and he is sneaky athletic.”
Lillard has been on fire in the bubble and is currently is the number one scorer in the seeding games. Averaging 37 points and 9.3 assists per game in the seven games, Lillard has single-handedly taken the Blazers to the eighth seed.
Last night, Lillard tied his career-high of 61 points to take the Blazers to a win over the Mavericks. But even after that, he talked about how the job wasn’t done yet. While talking about the final game against the Nets, Lillard said, That’s the most important game of our lives.”
So one can fully expect another Lillard masterclass tomorrow.
