Up until this point, there’s no denying that Damian Lillard has had a roller-coaster ride in his first season with the Milwaukee Bucks. He’s on a high again right now after his 41-point explosion in Monday’s impressive comeback win over the Los Angeles Clippers, but it’s virtually impossible that Dame won’t come crashing back down to earth sooner or later.
It’s also true, however, that the eight-time All-Star has had a spring in his step of late. According to Lillard, the arrival of Coach Doc Rivers has played a key role in the same.
Milwaukee Bucks Star Damian Lillard Credits Doc Rivers for Recent Surge
Speaking after Monday’s 113-106 victory over the Clippers, Lillard heaped praise on Rivers as he expressed how the tenured shot-caller has been pivotal in Dame’s development with the squad:
“It’s helped a lot. For a significant part of the year, it was just trying to find my way,” Lillard said, via Gabe Stoltz of Brew Hoop. “Trying to find my spaces where I would have opportunity. And I just think because I’ve played against Doc so many times in the West and he had to scout against me…so when he came in, he was just like, ‘You guys don’t run this? You guys don’t run that? Like, this is stuff we hated to guard against you.’ And he just slowly started to put some of those actions in.
“You know, I think it’s helped me settle in even more, especially playing with some of the guys on this team that can shoot the ball and having a guy like Giannis and the dunker behind the defense sometimes is like just stuff that I’ve always run and situations I’ve always been in should be in even harder to deal with now with the players that I’m playing with.”
A testament to this fact is how Lillard was totally dominant on Monday night with both Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton sidelined with injury. Rivers was more than comfortable with letting Lillard loose, which resulted in Milwaukee logging their sixth straight win.
Lillard also credited Rivers for being able to foster a productive environment within the squad, which now has every single member of the team even more committed to the cause than they previously were:
“I think we’ve simplified a lot of things,” Lillard said. “We’ve, I guess, just bought into a lot of the schemes. I don’t think that guys weren’t bought in but we’re seeing that it’s working and we’re seeing that it fits for us.
“It’s a lot of talking with Doc. Sometimes, we get on the court and we’re supposed to be starting practice and Doc will be talking for 15 minutes straight. He’s explaining what we’re doing and why we’re doing it and why it won’t work. And he’s telling guys individually, ‘This is what you like to do but we need you to do this. If you do this all the time, it’s gonna work for the team, then they’re gonna try to call you up into a switch. If they do, you gotta jump out aggressively. You gotta guard. Kick the ball in front of you. And if they start backing down, we’ll have somebody…’ Like, it’s a lot of talking through everything and I think with a veteran team, you gotta be able to hear it. Sometimes, you need what we want to happen to make sense verbally, then we walk through it and you get an understanding of it and that’s how you build that faith and belief and you get on the same page. I think he’s created an environment where everybody understands. Everything is clear. We walk through it 10, 15 times in practice and then we’re able to go out there and execute it because of how it’s being delivered to us.”
It should only get better for the Bucks from here on out.
For More Wisconsin Sports:
Follow me on Twitter at @PaoloSongcoNBA, and follow us @WiSportsHeroics. Also, check out our Merchandise Here! Get 20% off with the code “WSH.” You can also reach out to Paolo Songco via email at pao.songco@gmail.com. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest in ALL of Wisconsin sports, click here! Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Brewers, Milwaukee Bucks, Wisconsin Badgers.
