Bucks’ Damian Lillard Credits Adversity For Building Better Team Chemistry, Especially with Giannis
The Bucks have won their last four games.
The pairing of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard appears to finally be clicking as the Milwaukee Bucks hoped when they acquired Lillard from the Portland Trail Blazers over a year ago. When the Bucks initially brought in Lillard, there was belief that the team would instantly become championship contenders again by pairing together the two superstars.
Turns out, it wasn’t so seamless as simply putting them on the same team together. For much of the past year, Lillard and Antetokounmpo have individually performed well, but have yet to form a cohesive tandem. This has been such a prominent storyline for the Bucks that multiple people have even called the trade for Lillard a “failure.”
Over the past two games, in particular, the pairing has already looked much improved. In the Bucks’ 129-117 win over the Indiana Pacers on Friday, Lillard connected with Antetokounmpo on multiple assists, and Lillard finished with a double-double as Antetokounmpo recorded 37 points and a triple-double. In the following game against the Charlotte Hornets, both Lillard and Antetokounmpo scored over 30 points.
Lillard credited the adversity that the two saw for helping them become better. The Bucks started the season 2-8, but have since improved to 8-9 as Lillard and Antetokounmpo played better together.
“Sometimes, when you experience tough times and people are talking about our team and saying all types of stuff about our our guys individually, they put you in a situation where it’s really just us,” Lillard said, via Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “It’s us, and then it’s everybody else.”
“I think (we’re) just kind of honestly are getting to the point where we’re tuning everybody else out,” Lillard explained. “It’s just a lot of communication between the two of us, you know?
Antetokounmpo credits their collaboration to simply spending more time playing together, which has given them that time to grow as a duo.
“It’s just time. It’s time,” Antetokounmpo said, via Nehm. “I know. I can tell. I can tell from the rhythm. I can tell from his dribble. I can tell when he’s trying to attack. I know when he wants the ball now. I know when he’s going to reject it.”