DAMIAN LILLARD Feature-DAREDEVIL

Ill Lill.

By TIM DAVID HARVEY

#SuperheroSeason

Blazing across the court like glory is someone leaving a trail like no other in Portland, Oregon. The defence look like snails in relation to this guy! He's like the Flash, but that superhero is still scorching hot in Miami in the form of Dwyane 'Deadpool' Wade. Nah this guy is something else! If Iron Men are all over a league of guys trying to be Captain America then you have to search for a different type of hero this season. Especially with the hammer of Thor striking thunderbolts in Oklahoma, Hawkeye dropping arrows in Atlanta under the alias Kyle Korver and Ant Man, Anthony Davis rising above it all like a Pelican in New Orleans. You look at this guy differently. They say there are different ways to see...and this guy has court vision like no other. It's not just his eyes. It's like all his senses are engaged. The smell of leather and wood. The touch of the rock and the floor. The sound of sneakers screeching on the hardwood, making three point turns like speed racers. The taste of anticipation. Feeling it doesn't even begin to describe it. It's like Magic! Its like the basketball God's delivered this Point Guard, basketball quarterback from heaven. But he's got a name like a son of a gun. Yet you may as well call this Damian 'Murdock', because Lillard is a Daredevil the way he runs the floor and cooks in basketball's Hells Kitchen, sometimes like chef Curry didn't even know what hot was!

MVP? They'll probably treat this guy like he's nothing. Yet another guy in this league with zero aback his jersey is finally being heralded as a hero...and just like the wonder that is Westbrook, Lillard will one day get his time in his prime too. He's not too far behind. In speed and in stature. Just you wait. Just like a 24 year old kid from Oakland, California knows all about. Now this man is ready to make this whole league his own. Standing next to the L.A. king of LaMarcus Aldridge, killing them in the paint as big brother. Ready to keep Portland in the weird, Wild West dominated by the boot clicking old hands of the Spurs in Texas' big basketball draw of San Antonio. This Nike town of the PDX is known famously for the running shoes of track and field, yet now Oregon is for basketball lovers too...and we aren't just talking about those mighty Ducks or Beavers either. Moving Old Town with the funk, Dame time is going to give it to you like no other. Don't believe me just watch! HAH! Repping 'Rip City' to the death and the sleeves of a nice, white alternative. Hipsters beware, this Portlandia king doesn't even have a beard. Face it, keep these beasts caged, but these former Jail Blazers that featured the likes of Rasheed Wallace and Damon Stoudemire are now running free thanks to the locomotive speed of the Dame train. This cities got basketball history. From Bill Walton to Clyde Drexler, Sabonis to Petrovic and like the Spurs and Texan neighbour Mavs, but not the struggling Sacramento and Lakers they have been in contention (or at least flying around the Autumn closing window) for a long, damn time. Like the start of the new millennium long. Like playing through the injury pain of those 'what could have been', Greg Oden and Brandon Roy years. Now after all that this franchise could finally face it all down with a future set for the history books for the record. With the new school of Cory McCollum joining D in the backcourt class. Along with vets like Steve Blake and big players like Batum and the Brook brother, Robin Lopez who is anything but a sideshow Bob. Figure Aldridge into this behind his big numbers equation then what do you have left? Nothing!

More like zero and this whole teams agent of change. Making the city of Roses bloom like Derrick was playing in a Garden no longer renamed the Moda Centre. Can you smell the flowers? This guys ending it all like the previous points career, no matter how classic it could have been, despite the injury thorn in the side. A Roy upgrade to the speed and skill of a next gen Point Guard, making this NBA live like we really are playing a video game in this android age. Yeah sure this league is full of these new type of P.G's. Ones who are at a rapid rate revolutionizing the games starting and most important position already, but this guys still right there with the Russell's and Steph's that have taken over the Deron Williams and Chris Paul debate, that the old testament of Rajon Rondo changed the school books syllabus to over the last few years. But these kids?! These 90's babies are on a whole new curriculum. Before they even left their school halls they looked ready for the basketball ones. From the corridor to the trophy cabinet this is a hallway scene like no other. Yet in this game of Kings and thrones you thought guys like this where merely clutching at straws? Well, turns out no ones as clutch as this dude. This guys a judge, jury and executioner, defence resting game winner when he drops the hammer. Period...its done! Guys like Ralph Sampson, Oscar Robertson and the greatest Michael Jordan can relate to that. Just like the answer of Allen Iverson and Zeke, Isiah Thomas can compare to the numbers this unanimous Rookie Of The Year put in after being selected sixth. Just look up all the numbers this two timing All-Star has made his name famous for. It doesn't add up to the 'O' on his back. That stands for the journey from Oakland to Oregon and everything in between. A journey that's far from over in these clean and crisp, perfect Portland streets that can only be explained by this guy wiping the floor. That will only happen when the clutch clock reads 0.00. Then guess who will be left standing?