Damian Lillard proved too much to handle for the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night. Dame led the Milwaukee Bucks to a 132-121 victory at the Fiserv Forum with 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting, to go along with six rebounds, nine assists, a steal, and three triples in 38 minutes of action.
Lillard, of course, got a little bit of help from Giannis Antetokounmpo, who turned in another stunning triple-double in the win.
Atlanta Hawks Coach Sounds Off on Damian Lillard’s Strong Play for Milwaukee Bucks
Hawks head coach Quin Snyder conceded after the loss that Lillard gave them all sorts of trouble on the evening. Giannis, of course, was the star of the show, but Snyder admitted that it was Dame who pretty much picked the Hawks apart:
“There’s multipliers,” Snyder said (h/t Joshua Buckhalter of Soaring Down South). “Dame, Dame did some things, even when we guarded well, that we’re taking the ball out of the net. And it just puts more pressure on us to have offensive possessions that we can get to the line, we can get an offensive rebound, where we don’t just have to rely on making a shot.”
This just speaks volumes of how important Lillard is to the Bucks. It’s not all about getting buckets for the seven-time All-Star — a feat that he is more than capable of at any given time — but also, it’s his ability to get his teammates involved that makes him so dangerous.
“Defensively, playing Damian Lillard in pick-and-roll forces you to be up on the floor,” Snyder said. “So our backline is bigger. Usually, it’s one of them that’s up in pick-and-rolll defense. And it allows, even if Lopez is space, we can invert and we have more protection at the rim with more size. When our back line is smaller than that it’s it’s more difficult.
“It’s finding minutes for those guys to play together. There’s certain times in the game where that allows itself, and there’s certain matchups where I think it pays dividends defensively. Tonight was one of those nights.”
Bucks are a ‘Mature Team’
Snyder also had some praise reserved for the Bucks as a unit. The Hawks coach admitted that they were simply outplayed by their opponents, especially down the stretch.
“I think we were easier to guard during that stretch and, like I said, we didn’t get to the line,” Snyder stated. “We had tough shots. I thought they got better shots than we did that last four minutes. And sometimes those add up to an offensive rebound, free throw, slows the game down, you set your defense. And that’s something – they’re a mature team.”
The ballgame was tied with five and a half minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. The Bucks shifted to another gear, though, and they ended up outscoring Atlanta 18-7 to close out the game.
It was another clutch performance by Dame and the Bucks, which came at the expense of the Hawks.
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