“ He was shouting 'The ball! The ball ! The ball !' When a guy like him shouts for the ball, you have to give it to him. » So Giannis Antetokounmpo passed the leather towards Damian Lillard. However, the ball had just gone the other way after the “pick-and-roll” between the two men.
But the Bucks leader was so hot that he got rid of Norman Powell's marking to be served on a “handoff” from the Greek. He was then able to rise and, despite two opposing arms, convert 3-pointers to give the Bucks a 10-point lead on the Clippers floor, with a good minute to play.
Like this sequence, the two men spent the majority of their Sunday evening playing directly together. With an instant effect on the statistics sheet: 35 points (11/19 including 7/13 from a distance) and 11 assists for the leader; 34 points (12/24) and 10 assists for the interior, without forgetting 7 rebounds each. The two men had already finished with a double-double, passing, two evenings earlier against the Lakers.
Giannis and Dame are the first duo in NBA HISTORY to have 20+ PTS and 10+ AST in back-to-back games.
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) March 10, 2024
What do we think of this two-person game between All-Stars? Damian Lillard feels like he's improving. “ At the start of the season, a lot of people wanted things to click right away. But any time you put two guys together who have always made decisions, who have always had the ball in their hands for years and years, it takes time to learn how to play with each other, and one for the other “, judges former Blazers star.
The leader considers that he and his teammate communicate more about their mutual expectations, and also understand each other “ better and better. And because of that, I'm able to go to certain places and use it against the defense and vice versa. With the kind of attention we generate […] and when the helper moves to defend whichever one of us ends up with the ball, then the next guy can get a clean shot. »
Constant work in training
Recent example with Pat Connaughton, author of 17 points against the Lakers, taking advantage of the Greek's caviars at the end of the pick-and-roll with his leader. A two-player game widely recommended by Doc Rivers since his arrival. This set course is such that the team laughs about it in training.
“ The team sometimes jokes during the shootout: Doc puts us on one side of the field and puts everyone else on the other side. And he'll be like, 'All right, Giannis, set the screen… Throw it back… Now dribble to Lady… Lady, throw it back…' We go back and forth for 15 seconds […] He makes sure we play for each other », Reports Damian Lillard when his companion suggests that this work together was not really relevant earlier in the season.
“ Before, I think we imagined it was going to be, (Lady) comes out of the pick-and-roll: 'Boom. I found Giannis, he's going to do his thing. If Giannis isn't there, I'm going to shoot.' Now we are working on it. We are more patient. We don't just talk about it, we practice it. There were a lot of practices where Dame, the whole team and I did five on (zero) for five minutes straight, just Dame and I passing, re-passing, passing, re-passing », Testifies the Greek.
According to the double MVP, this work is now visible on the floor. And is undoubtedly not insignificant to the good form of the Milwaukee team which remains on seven victories in nine games since the All-Star Game.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Giannis Antetokounmpo | 62 | 35.0 | 61.5 | 29.7 | 66.1 | 2.5 | 8.7 | 11.2 | 6.5 | 3.4 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 2.9 | 30.8 |
| Damian Lillard | 60 | 35.0 | 42.6 | 35.5 | 92.6 | 0.5 | 3.9 | 4.4 | 6.9 | 2.6 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 24.7 |
| Khris Middleton | 43 | 26.3 | 48.7 | 37.8 | 83.2 | 0.6 | 3.7 | 4.3 | 5.0 | 2.1 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 2.4 | 14.8 |
| Bobby Portis | 65 | 24.0 | 49.8 | 38.0 | 79.4 | 1.6 | 5.5 | 7.1 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 13.2 |
| Brook Lopez | 62 | 31.2 | 47.8 | 35.3 | 82.5 | 1.5 | 3.9 | 5.3 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 2.6 | 2.5 | 12.5 |
| Malik Beasley | 63 | 29.8 | 45.9 | 43.6 | 64.3 | 0.6 | 3.2 | 3.9 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 2.0 | 11.4 |
| Jae Crowder | 34 | 24.2 | 42.3 | 34.5 | 69.2 | 0.6 | 3.0 | 3.6 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 1.7 | 6.2 |
| Cameron Payne | 47 | 14.9 | 45.5 | 39.7 | 84.1 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 2.3 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.6 | 6.2 |
| Pat Connaughton | 59 | 21.7 | 46.2 | 38.5 | 72.5 | 0.6 | 2.6 | 3.2 | 1.9 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 5.6 |
| Patrick Beverly | 13 | 17.9 | 37.3 | 37.1 | 80.0 | 0.8 | 2.5 | 3.3 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 1.8 | 5.5 |
| Marjon Beauchamp | 45 | 13.1 | 47.7 | 39.4 | 67.9 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 2.1 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 4.3 |
| Aj Green | 42 | 9.6 | 43.3 | 41.0 | 90.9 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 4.3 |
| Andre Jackson, Jr. | 48 | 10.5 | 52.3 | 37.5 | 72.7 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 2.0 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.7 | 2.4 |
| Lindell Wigginton | 3 | 2.5 | 40.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 2.0 |
| Danilo Gallinari | 9 | 9.2 | 27.8 | 11.1 | 100.0 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 1.9 |
| Robin Lopez | 16 | 4.0 | 36.8 | 25.0 | 100.0 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.1 |
| Chris Livingston | 16 | 4.3 | 43.8 | 33.3 | 100.0 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 1.1 |
| Thanasis Antetokounmpo | 27 | 4.7 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 0.9 |
| Tyty Washington, Jr. | 5 | 4.1 | 14.3 | 33.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.6 |
| Bolden Brands | 2 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 |
