Portland Trail Blazers superstar point guard Damian Lillard balled out on Friday night against the Los Angeles Lakers in what was the first game inside the Staples Center following the tragic death of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant on Sunday. As expected, the Lakers organization played tribute to Kobe prior to the ballgame, and it was a very emotional evening throughout. Following the contest, Lillard was asked about his thoughts on Bryant's legacy. He was, however, interrupted mid-interview by teammate Jusuf Nurkic — something that left a bad taste in the mouth of Lakers fans everywhere.
Here's the clip of Lillard's interview courtesy of our friends from B/R:
Dame on honoring Kobe and dropping 48 PTS: “The one thing that we know for sure we had in common with Kobe: the love of this game, and we here so we might as well come out and honor him this way." pic.twitter.com/JPPWWk8Bpx
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 1, 2020
Damian Lillard was delivering a very poignant and meaningful message, and it's a shame Nurkic had to ruin the moment with his ill-advised actions. To be fair to the Bosnian big man, though, he likely did not know that Lillard was talking about Kobe at that moment, so he thought it would be a good idea to play around a bit.
It's not uncommon for teammates to interrupt other players' interviews, and if only Lillard wasn't discussing a very serious subject, then there wouldn't have been any problem. Nonetheless, there's just no excuse for Nurkic's action, so the backlash he has received from this should serve as a lesson for him moving forward.
As Lillard explained above, he honored Bryant the best way he knew how — by playing is heart out inside the very building Kobe called his home for two decades. The Blazers All-Star guard led his team to an impressive 127-119 victory over the Lakers, finishing with a game-high 48 points (17-of-30 from the floor, 7-of-8 from the line), seven triples, nine rebounds, 10 dimes, and two steals.
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