Damian Lillard Is Fearless

The Portland Trail Blazers are a very good basketball team that is fun to watch, and human firecracker Damian Lillard is a big reason why.

The play above was the big highlight of Lillard's 34-point roasting of the Lakers last night, a dunk that's brimming with the thing that makes Lillard's game so intoxicating: fearlessness. There he is, 6-foot-3 and just about as wide as one of Dwight Howard's shoulders, rocketing straight into the teeth of the defense and channeling Dominique Wilkins. Outside of Russell Westbrook, there isn't another point guard in the league as committed to trying to yank down every rim he comes across.

This play wasn't even Lillard's ballsiest of the night. Earlier, he found himself with a similarly open runway to the rim, only this time Tarik Black decided to stand his ground because, come on, what's lil' Damian Lillard gonna do? Try to dunk on him?

That is exactly what Damian Lillard tried to do, because, again, he is afraid of nothing. Lillard had all the time in the world to kick that ball out or stop short and send up a soft floater, but he instead decided to try and spike one on Black's head. The fact that the ball found the hoop despite Lillard never coming all that close to the rim feels like feels like the universe just throwing up its hands and saying, "Damn, that little guy just doesn't give a fuck, does he? Okay, well, I guess he earned the basket and the foul."