Damian Lillard battled back to play Game 6. That impressed his Bucks teammates
INDIANAPOLIS – Damian Lillard was determined to play in Game 6 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Thursday after the star Milwaukee Bucks guard sat out two games with right Achilles tendinitis.
"Treatment, treatment, treatment, just pretty much around the clock," Lillard said after the Bucks' season ended with a 120-98 loss to the Indiana Pacers. "I came in this morning at like 9:30, came to the arena.
"Tried to get on the court yesterday and it didn't feel good. I just don't think I would have slept well and I don't think I would have went into this summer feeling good about much ... if I didn't at least go out there and at least try.
"I came in this morning. I did a workout, about 45 minutes on the court this morning, just to move around. Just to see what happens if I jump off my right foot. And shoot step-backs and pull-up jumpers and stuff. It was a little tender, but I felt like I could manage it."
Lillard got more treatment in the afternoon, then did a pregame workout and felt ready to go.
"I think just being in the building, and seeing all the t-shirts on the chairs, I started moving around and I was just, like, (expletive) it, I'm going to play," he said. "Let's do it. This is it. It's no guarantees that we're going to make it back home and I want to be out there. So that was it."
Doc Rivers praised Damian Lillard's willingness to play
Lillard ended up playing 35 minutes and scoring a game-high 28 points on 7-for-16 shooting.
"I thought it just took him a while to get going," Bucks head coach Doc Rivers said. "You could tell off of pick-and-rolls, he didn't have a lot of explosion. Couldn't beat guys early.
"I thought in the second half he was better, but by that time we were in a hole. It was tough because you want him on the floor. But you also knew that it may take a minute in a playoff Game 6. And you probably don't have that minute.
"I just love the fact that he knew he wasn't 100% ... there's a lot of other players who wouldn't have played tonight. So just more respect for Dame, coming from me."
Damian Lillard got hurt in last regular-season game
The Bucks were snake-bitten by injuries at the end of the season, including a calf strain for two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Lillard was initally hurt in the regular-season finale at Orlando.
"I kind of strained it a little bit," Lillard said. "And then that whole week leading up to Game 1, I didn't practice. Pretty much the whole week, I was out, literally until Saturday. Then Saturday I did stuff with the team on the floor, just moving up and down."
Lillard was able to play in Games 1 and 2, scoring 69 points, including 35 in the first half of Game 1. He hurt the Achilles again at the end of regulation in Game 3.
"It was back to square one," Lillard said.
Khris Middleton impressed by Damian Lillard
Bucks teammate Khris Middleton, who battled ankle injuries in the series, admired how much work Lillard put into returning.
"It meant a lot," Middleton said. "He was going through a serious thing that had been bothering him for a while. He felt he was good enough to go out there and play tonight. I thought he gave it everything he had also. So it's a lot of respect from me and I think from everyone inside that locker room that he went out there and played 35 minutes. We needed him tonight, but just couldn't pull it out."
There has been a lot that has happened with the Bucks since they traded for Lillard just before training camp, and plenty of pundits have debated Lillard's happiness with the team. It was a strange first season with the franchise, but Lillard seemed at peace with it.
"I was almost 25 points a game, seven assists," Lillard said. "We almost won 50 games, given everything else. And people just had a whole lot to say.
"When I look at my performance, I know that I could have done a lot of things better. And I know that I'm going to have a full season of knowing the coach I'm going to be playing for, having a better idea of the guys that I'm going to be playing with. Being in Milwaukee, I kind of settled into things here."
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bucks' Damian Lillard rehabbed Achilles to play in Game 6 vs. Pacers
