It seemed that the Milwaukee Bucks (12-4) would have a gentle walk against the Portland Trail Blazers (4-11) in the encounter this morning, where Damian Lillard faced his old team for the first time.
However, the Bucks played subjectively and got off to an extremely bad start, allowing the opponent to lead 55-81 at the beginning of the third quarter.
Fortunately, the home team was able to wake up in time to bring the match back to balance before Giannis Antetokounmpo sealed the victory with a classy individual performance.
The two ball control situations at the end of the match were quite chaotic. The Bucks had a chance to advance, but Damian Lillard and Bobby Portis missed, respectively. It wasn’t until Giannis popped the tip-in that the ball went into the basket, putting the Bucks up 104-102.
The match ended with a change in the referee’s whistle. They initially determined that Giannis Antetokounmpo committed a foul when trying to block former teammate Malcolm Brogdon.
But after the Milwaukee Bucks decided to use the right to appeal, the referees had more detailed camera angles and came to the decision that this was a valid defensive phase.
Since the score was 81-55 in favor of the Blazers, Damian Lillard, Giannis Antetokounmpo and his teammates ended the match with a series of scores of 58-21.
During this run, Dame and Giannis individually scored a total of 32 points, more than the 21 points of the entire Portland Trail Blazers team combined.
According to statistics, this 26-point comeback victory is the second largest comeback from a gap in Milwaukee Bucks club history, and also the “comeback” from the furthest gap recorded this season.
“Maybe we made it difficult for ourselves in this match” , Giannis Antetokounmpo shared after scoring 33 points, 16 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 blocks.
“On the other side of the field is a young, enthusiastic team, playing with fire and ready to punish you if you are subjective. We can’t play like today, starting the game and being 26 points behind like this.”
Scoring 31 points (7-21 FG, 13-14 FT) with the majority coming in the second half of the game, Damian Lillard had not a bad game when facing the Portland Trail Blazers for the first time in his 11-year NBA career.
“ I felt a bit strange when I met my old teammates, team staff and coaching staff. I experienced this feeling for the first time and it was quite strange ,” Lillard said.
Before being part of the blockbuster transfer to Milwaukee Bucks, Dame was with the Blazers from 2012 until the end of last summer 2023.
In an effort to bring the Milwaukee Bucks back, Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo became the second pair of teammates in team history to score over 30 points.
In addition, Lillard also had a special achievement when he became the 15th player in NBA history to score at least 30 points in the basket of 30 NBA teams. Previously, he could not do this because he played for the Portland Trail Blazers for 11 consecutive years.
