Damian Lillard, Giannis Antetokounmpo still ‘learning’ as Hawks crush Bucks،
MILWAUKEE — Despite Damian Lillard’s smooth debut for the Milwaukee Bucks on opening night, his tough shooting in the team’s 127-110 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night highlighted why the new look of the Bucks is still a work in progress.
Lillard finished with six points and went 2 of 12 from the field (2 of 8 from 3) with six turnovers. After scoring 39 points in his debut with the Bucks, Lillard finished with the largest negative point differential (-33) between a player’s first and second game with a franchise in NBA history, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
“We’re still learning,” Lillard said after Sunday’s game. It’s a process: When I have a start like this or a game like this, how do I find it without keeping the ball? Or in the past, I sometimes looked, but I didn’t. I don’t have to, so it’s where can I find those moments and those opportunities to jump in so I can be positive?
“It’s part of the process. It’s only our second game. We haven’t played a lot of games together. I think as we go along we’ll figure that out and get better.”
The Bucks never got into rhythm on Sunday. They never led against the Hawks and trailed by 31 points as Atlanta earned their first win of the season.
It was a rare shooting night for Lillard, who had scored in double figures in 79 consecutive games, the second-longest streak of his career (230 straight from 2016 to 2019). He was held scoreless at halftime for the first time since 2020.
“I know how good he is,” said Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who finished with 26 points and 11 rebounds. “At the end of the day, we need him to keep shooting, we need him to continue to be great. Obviously we didn’t win the game, but he’s our guy now.
“It’s game two. It’s very, very early. We’re still figuring ourselves out. We’re figuring out what works. We’re figuring out what we’re good at, what we’re not good at. “
Lillard added: “You don’t want to have these kinds of games, but they happen. Now we just have to learn from it, we have another one. [Monday]”.
Next up for the Bucks: a home game against the Miami Heat, the team that eliminated Milwaukee in five games in the first round of last year’s playoffs and the team Lillard has made it clear he prefers be exchanged when he made his initial exchange request. from Portland this summer.
Even though he spent part of the summer believing he would end up in Miami, Lillard said he had no added feeling or motivation heading into Monday’s game.
“I never played on their team,” Lillard said. “I mentioned this was the destination for me when I asked to be traded last year, but I got traded here. I was excited to be here. I’m happy to be here .I fit in very well here. For me, personally, it was over, I never thought about it again after that.
“I’m not going to approach it tomorrow and say, ‘This is the team I was supposed to play for’ or none of that. I know Jimmy. [Butler]I know Bam [Adebayo] — we cool down. But I play for the Bucks.”