Damian Lillard got a taste of his own medicine on Thursday night as the Milwaukee Bucks suffered a heartbreaking loss to the Indiana Pacers in the semifinal of the NBA In-Season Tournament.
It was Tyrese Haliburton who has been making all sorts of headlines after his heroic performance for the Pacers, which included an ice-cold dagger trey with less than a minute remaining in the game to close out the Bucks.
Milwaukee Bucks Star Damian Lillard Reacts to Tyrese Haliburton’s Dame Time Antics
Haliburton gave Indiana some much-needed separation with a clutch triple late in the game. He gave the Pacers an eight-point lead with 48.0 seconds remaining. They did not look back from there.
After draining the biggest shot of the game, the All-Star point guard busted out his own version of Lillard’s Dame Time celebration.
"SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASHHHH. The bench erupts."
Mark Boyle's call of Tyrese Haliburton's dagger 📻 pic.twitter.com/6XAyMypAsK
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) December 8, 2023
In his post-game press conference, Lillard was asked to share his thoughts on Haliburton’s jab. The Bucks superstar said that he didn’t mind Haliburton’s antics:
“You gotta be willing to take it,” Lillard said. “For as many times that I’ve done it to people, I can’t be upset when somebody else does it. I think that’s also a sign of respect and acknowledgment for knowing my history and knowing what I do. I didn’t mind it. It was what it was.”
Dame’s Reminder for Tyrese Haliburton
Lillard did give his young counterpart a bit of a warning, though. Just like what happened to Dame on Thursday night, the 33-year-old reminded Haliburton that these types of actions could come back to bite him:
“I’ve also known that when you having your moment, it’s important to be careful and to be humble when you’re having your moments because you just never know how the tables turn and when they’re gonna turn.”
Lillard made it clear, however, that there’s no bad blood between them:
“I respect it. I didn’t think… We shook hands after the game. I wasn’t moved by it left or right,” Lillard said.
Whatever the case might be, it’s Haliburton and the Pacers who are headed to the IST Finals, while Lillard and Co. are out.
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1 Comment
Just like the Knicks, “Milwaukee Bucks go home with nothing to SHOW. It looks like the Bucks just had a good nite against the knicks