That’s it, Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo made their big debut together. It was against the Lakers, deprived of LeBron James, during a preseason match won (108-97) by the Bucks.
Statistically, the former Blazer finished with 14 points at 3/10 shooting, including 2/7 from distance, plus 3 assists and 4 interceptions, while the “Greek Freak” remained only 15 minutes on the floor, to compile 16 points at 7/10 shooting, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks but 4 lost balls.
But what everyone expected was to see the two stars combine, especially on the pick-and-roll. And the double MVP confides that the fear inspired by his new teammate changes a lot of things…
“I have never been this open in the last five or seven years, if I remember correctly” he explains. “In fact, I’ve never seen anyone take two-on-ones on the first possession of the game. He is different. It was a surprise. It’s a pre-season game. Not a playoff game, not a regular season game, not a mid-season tournament game. This is insane… On the pick-and-roll, they were trying to get him to drop the ball, they were taking it two and when I was cutting to the rim, I was just totally open. And when I’m open, I attack to do what I know how to do, the defense tightens up and I can get the ball out to Jae (Crowder), Brook (Lopez) or Malik (Beasley). And the guys are open. »
“The first possessions of the game, they blitzed me, they were doing double takes on me and the guy I passed to was Giannis (laughs)”
For Darvin Ham, former assistant in Milwaukee and now head coach in Los Angeles, many teams will tear their hair out over the Lillard/Giannis pick-and-roll defense…
“Good luck to everyone, and to the other 28 teams behind us who are going to have to find a way to stop this. I’m just happy that we only meet them twice in the regular season.”he blurted.
For Damian Lillard too, the feeling is both strange and exciting.
“There’s just another guy who can dominate and win you a match. The first possessions of the game, they blitzed me, they were doing double takes on me and the guy I passed to (to get out of that) was Giannis (laughs). So we can do that the whole match. Everyone is having fun because we’re going to enjoy each other when we’re on the field together, and Khris (Middleton) wasn’t even there…”
This pick-and-roll will thus be the basis of the offensive game of Adrian Griffin’s Bucks this season, as the options are numerous and frightening for Milwaukee’s future opponents.
“It’s going to be different for him too. On one possession, he had the ball in the low post and he was able to play one-on-one because my defender stayed on me. Another time I gave him the ball in the center and he was able to attack the circle. He could go to the basket or bring out the ball on the weak side. We’re going to have a lot of options and there will be times when he wants to do the action for me, and vice versa.” concludes Damian Lillard.
