MILWAUKEE — The maximum sudden facet of Damian Lillard’s historic debut with the Milwaukee Bucks, no less than to his teammates, can have come after the recreation. As quickly as the locker room doorways opened to the media, there was once Lillard, wearing a raspberry-colored sweatsuit, in a position to move. A bewildered Giannis Antetokounmpo, his frame draped in ice, could not imagine it. Neither may Bobby Portis.
That’s “Dame Time,” Antetokounmpo mentioned, pointing to his wrist.
Thursday evening was once certainly “Dame Time,” as Lillard poured in 39 issues to guide the Bucks to a 118-117 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. He scored 14 of the staff’s ultimate 16 issues down the stretch, chipped in 8 rebounds and 4 assists, and set the franchise document for maximum issues in a debut.
As a ways as first impressions pass, it might were tricky for Lillard to ship a higher one. This was once Milwaukee’s first probability to look the actual Lillard enjoy, and Fiserv Forum was once electrical as he closed the display with a collection of grasp buckets and loose throws.
Watching him paintings on TV is something, however seeing it in particular person is particular. Even his teammates, fellow NBA vets who’ve been round the league and observed all of it, have been inspired. Here’s a have a look at Lillard’s Bucks debut through their eyes.
“It was tough man, he was hooping,” Cameron Payne mentioned. “It was crazy, we really ain’t got to see that Dame yet. That was our first time seeing him go crazy on our team, because in preseason he was getting trapped. We really didn’t get to see that. But he put on a show tonight. I know he’s gonna keep that going. The boy looked good.”
Lillard were given off to a gradual get started from the box, lacking 4 of his first 5 pictures. Even so, his have an effect on was once obtrusive. The additional consideration the Sixers needed to display him spread out lanes and alternatives for his teammates. “They have to pick him up right as he crosses halfcourt,” Chris Livingston mentioned. “That’s gonna do a lot of good things for our offense.”
Before I may even end asking Jae Crowder if he may really feel the protection begin to panic when Lillard had the ball, he was once already nodding in settlement. “That’s what I took away the most,” Crowder mentioned. “Just seeing how much attention he draws.”
Less than six mins in, Lillard ran the flooring in transition and stuck a hit-ahead move from Malik Beasley. Immediately, 4 other Sixers moved his manner. So Lillard swung it to Khris Middleton, who fired a skip move throughout the court docket. Beasley and Brook Lopez have been each so large open that they collided going for the ball, and Lopez nonetheless had lots of time to reset and bury the triple.
All Crowder may do was once giggle.
“They both tried to go for it because they were both open,” Crowder mentioned. “You can only trap so many guys on the court. That was a play that really showed how much attention he draws and how we can get shots off of him.”
As the evening went alongside, Lillard began to seek out his offense. There was once a three-minute stretch in the 2nd quarter the place he stuck hearth, scoring 14 issues, which had the crowd “geeked,” consistent with Payne. And then in the fourth, Lillard took once more.
Once up via 19, the Bucks trailed via 8 with 6:47 to play. Then Lopez and Crowder hit back-to-back threes to chop the deficit to 2; Lillard treated issues from there. He scored 14 of the staff’s ultimate 16 issues, together with a 3-pointer with 3:57 final that put them forward for excellent.
The spotlight of that scoring binge was once a actually ridiculous 3 from about 30 toes to place the Bucks up via 5 at the 1:13 mark. Lillard drove left, went at the back of his again, crossed over and stepped again prior to catching not anything however web.
Payne just chuckled fascinated by it. “He’s tough man, he’s tough. They’re like layups for him, for real. It’s just crazy.”
So did Portis. “That was smooth. Lined it up, the crowd goes ‘three!’ and cashes it. Great moment for him in his first game with us.”
“I thought that was pretty conventional,” Robin Lopez mentioned.
As if he hadn’t finished sufficient already, Lillard then sealed the win via hitting a pair of loose throws in the final seconds. Though he is formally been a member of the staff for lower than a month, the Bucks already accept as true with him to near the display.
“Even tonight on the bench, it was like towards the end of the game — it was four minutes, five minutes — Jae, Cam, you know, they were like, ‘Dame, finish them. Close it out’,” Lillard mentioned. “And it wasn’t them telling me, ‘you gotta ranking, you gotta do that,’ it was once just they accept as true with my judgment and accept as true with me making selections. And all the manner all the way down to the very closing play the place I were given fouled and I went to the free-throw line.
“They inbounded it to Giannis and I was reading him like, ‘what do you want to do?’ And he was like, ‘come get the ball.'”
Lillard was once, in Antetokounmpo’s eyes, “unbelievable.” It’s exhausting to argue with that, and the easiest news for the Bucks and their enthusiasts is they are going to get to look at it for no less than seven extra months.
“It’s a lot of fun, especially when there are so many other great players out there with Dame,” Robin Lopez mentioned. “It’s really just a feast for us. We get to watch a lot of good basketball.”