Damian Lillard is not happy with D’Angelo Russell’s ‘little slick elbows’

Blazers star Damian Lillard and Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell may have a rivalry brewing after Lillard called out Russell for throwing “little slick elbows” against him.

Damian Lillard is getting tired of D’Angelo Russell’s “little slick elbows.”

That was what the Blazers’ star point guard had to say after Portland’s 108-87 victory over the Lakers on Tuesday night. According to Shahan Ahmed of NBC 4 LA, Russell, who was outplaying Lillard in the first half, bumped Lillard in the third quarter, which Lillard didn’t take too kindly of.

Lillard then got into Russell’s face, and the two had to be separated by the refs, and Lillard used the incident to score 11 points in the third that blew open a tight game.

But, apparently, the Lillard-Russell feud may have been simmering long before that bump on Tuesday night.

After the game, Lillard let loose on Russell in a postgame interview:

“Since last game, he’d been doing little slick elbows, and I play the game clean,” Lillard said. Adding this dandy: “I’m from Oakland. I ain’t with that extra stuff. Nobody can do just what they want to me.”

When Russell got wind of what Lillard said about him, he had this to say:

“We ain’t going to do it on the court, so we’ll be in the back, and whatever happens, happens. It was nothing. He poked the bear, and you see what happened after the game.”

A bear was poked alright, but as the stats point out, it may have been Russell who may have been doing the poking.

So, to sum things up, Lillard isn’t happy with the way Russell has been guarding him and even went as far as to indicate that he may be a dirty player. But Russell isn’ the one that will back down from a challenge, and when the two teams up again on Jan. 25 (on ESPN, no less!), all eyes will be on this growing rivalry.