Dame, Giannis still ‘learning’ as Bucks blown out

MILWAUKEE — Despite how smoothly Damian Lillard‘s debut for the Milwaukee Bucks went on opening night, his rough shooting in the team’s 127-110 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night underscored why the new-look Bucks are still a work in progress.

Lillard finished with six points and went 2-for-12 from the field (2-for-8 on 3’s) with six turnovers. After scoring 39 points in his Bucks debut, Lillard finished with the largest negative point differential (-33) between a player’s first and second games with a franchise in NBA history, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

“We’re still learning each other,” Lillard said after Sunday’s game. “It’s a process of when I do have a start like this or have a game like this, how do I find it without holding onto the ball? Or in the past I would search sometimes, but I don’t have to, so it’s where do I find those moments and those opportunities to get myself going so I can be a positive out there?

“That’s part of the process. It’s just our second game. We haven’t played a bunch of games together. I think as we go, we’ll figure that out and get better at it.”

The Bucks never got into a rhythm Sunday. They never led against the Hawks and trailed by as many as 31 points as Atlanta picked up its first win of the season.

It was a rare off shooting night for Lillard, who had scored in double figures in 79 straight games, the second-longest streak of his career (230 straight from 2016 to 2019). He was held scoreless at halftime for the first time since 2020.

“I know how good he is,” said Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who finished with 26 points and 11 rebounds. “At the end of the day, we need him to keep shooting, we need him to keep on being great. Obviously we didn’t win the game, but he’s our guy now.

“It’s game two. It’s very, very early. We’re still figuring ourselves out. We’re figuring out what works. We’re figuring out what we are good at, what we are not good at.”

Lillard added: “You don’t want to have these types of games, but they happen. Now we just got to learn from them, we got another one [Monday].”

Next up for the Bucks: a home matchup against the Miami Heat, the team that eliminated Milwaukee in five games during the first round of last year’s playoffs and the team Lillard made it known he preferred to be traded to when he made his initial trade request from Portland this summer.

Even if he spent some portion of the summer believing he would end up in Miami, Lillard said he’s not carrying any extra feelings or motivation heading into Monday’s matchup.

“I’ve never played on their team,” Lillard said. “I mentioned that it was the destination for me when I asked to be traded last year, but I was traded here. I was excited to be here. I’m happy to be here. I fit in great here. For me, personally that was the end of it. I never thought about it after that.

“I’m not going into it tomorrow like, ‘This is the team I was supposed to be playing for’ or none of that. I know Jimmy [Butler], I know Bam [Adebayo] — we cool. But I play for the Bucks.”