Damion Lee shines bright in Christmas Day show down with Rockets

Former Louisville basketball star Damion Lee had arguably the best game of his career on Christmas Day in an upset over the Houston Rockets.

Christmas Day in the NBA has become of the biggest traditions in all of professional sports over the last few decades and with it have come legendary prime time performances against rivals or the NBA’s top teams, as well as surprising breakout performances you never saw coming. Christmas 2019 was no different, and for Louisville fans watching basketball while celebrating the holidays with their families many got to see a breakout performance by former Card, Damion Lee.

Many times fans tune in to watch the NBA for the first time of the season during the league’s annual Christmas Day marathon, in what can really be classified as a “second tip-off” across the league. With not much on TV sports-wise, the NBA captures national attention and it’s the reason why the biggest teams with the biggest names stars are often-times matched up.

Yesterday when fans tuned in to watch the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets, my guess is many casual fans weren’t prepared for the Dubs squad they were about to watch. Gone are mainstays in San Fran, including Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala, and Shaun Livingston, while stars Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry are both out for long periods due to injuries.

That’s left valuable playing to go to names like Glenn Robinson III, Willie Cauley-Stein, Eric Paschall, Damion Lee, Ky Bowman, and Alec Burks, along with stars Draymond Green and newcomer D’Angelo Russell.

But when big-time players are needed to make big-time plays against other stars, such as James Harden and Russell Westbrook – two of the NBA’s most electric scorers and playmakers, the Warriors call on champions. That was none more so true than yesterday when former Cardinal Damion Lee put together a career-best performance in what went down as the biggest upset of the day.

https://twitter.com/warriors/status/1209975597381799936

If you read the site regularly, you’ve probably stumbled across a few articles with updates on Lee who has become a regular rotation player in Golden State, despite playing on a Two-Way contract.

The Warriors and Lee are coming up on a contract situation that will force the hands of Golden State to either keep him in the G-League for the rest of the season, make a roster move to create space for Lee (meaning another guaranteed player must be waived), or release him and allow another team to bid on his services. Considering the third-year guard is averaging 11.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game while playing nearly 25 minutes a night, the Warriors no doubt have a very tough decision to make.

Against Houston, Lee was incredible, impacting the game in every way imaginable against a team that’s been a perennial contender in the Western Conference the last few seasons. On the offensive end, he finished with 22 points, 15 rebounds, and four assists while defensively he did a great job in helping to limit Harden to just 18 shots and only 24 points (well below his 38.1 ppg average), while coming up with three steals.

Even with a team full of players not many would know, outside of Draymond Green and D’Angelo Russell – both past All-Stars, the Warriors played much like you’d expect a former champion to play, and a lot of it had to do with the performance of Lee who started at the shooting guard position.

His performance was truly special, especially considering his “two-way” tag. Lee shot the ball just nine times, going 5-9 overall, including 2-2 from three all while grabbing 15 total rebounds (including two on the offensive end), going 10-10 from the free-throw line, and not to mention making plays for other with four assists (t-second on the team), and stealing the ball three times.

Lee just has a few weeks remaining before he hits the 45-day max on time allowed to be spent with the NBA team that his contract allows, and after missing nearly a month due to a broken hand time was ticking.

The Christmas Day performance all but wrapped up a guaranteed contract for Lee, whether it be with Golden State or another team, that should make him a very rich man. For those who’ve followed Lee since his one season at Louisville, they know how much this dude deserves it.