Milwaukee Bucks superstar Damian Lillard had one of those nights against the Indiana Pacers on Monday. Dame just couldn’t find his stroke as the seven-time All-Star finished with 13 points on a miserable 3-of-16 shooting (18.8 percent) in Milwaukee’s disappointing 122-113 loss against their Central Division rivals.
Milwaukee Bucks Star Damian Lillard Reacts to Poor Shooting Night
After the game, Lillard shared his brutally honest thoughts on his atrocious shooting against the Pacers. The 33-year-old admitted that he simply had an off night:
“It’s part of the game,” Lillard said, via Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I think that’s the first thing. Sometimes the ball doesn’t go in. I thought tonight as somebody who shoots the ball I felt like they were all going in. They felt good. It wasn’t like the ball felt bad coming out of my hands. Sometimes it goes that way. It’s just an adjustment period sometimes.”
While the Pacers also deserve credit for their defense on Lillard, the fact of the matter is that Dame had more than a few good looks on the evening — attempts that he would have knocked down on any other night.
This just wasn’t the case on Monday, though, and the seven-time All-NBA point guard will just have to write this one off as one of those forgettable outings.
Dame Sheds Light on Struggles
Lillard does have an idea as to why he shot the ball so poorly against the Pacers, though. Dame noted that he’s still adjusting to life as an off-the-ball shooter alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo and the rest of his Bucks teammates:
“I think you just get, you know, in my career, I’ve played the game with the ball so it’s easier to just have a more natural rhythm to the game,” he continued. “I think now some nights are just better than others when it comes to shooting the ball and being able to kind of manage and control the game as opposed to having stretches where I’m just off the ball and I’m shooting catch-and-shoot shots a lot more often. So you don’t really know.
“The rhythm is just different to the game, so I think that kind of makes it a little bit harder when you’re not fully used to it. And then, like I said, the other part of it, every shot that I shot I felt good about. It just didn’t go in.”
I honestly don’t think Dame is making any excuses here. He’s been making significant strides with the Bucks of late since his offseason move, but there are bound to be a few bumps on the road along the way. Monday night was a perfect example of the same.
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