Damian Lillard's 'prizefighter' performance in Game 1 for Bucks vs. Pacers was a week in the making

It had been a week of reflection for Damian Lillard, visualization to resuscitate a visceral feeling. Beginning on the team bus ride to Orlando’s Kia Center for the season finale April 14, he thought about the excitement level he had when he first slipped on the number zero in Milwaukee green and cream.

In the summer he asked to be removed from his home, his family – the only place he ever knew as a professional – and be placed somewhere he could legitimately contend for an elusive championship. It wasn’t an easy process. He landed on the shore of Lake Michigan just before training camp, and the buzz was palpable. Dame Time. The Greek Freak. It was supposed to be electric.

For a variety of reasons, however, the 82-game regular season blew more fuses than anticipated. But over the last week Lillard transported himself back to that new beginning, to feel that excitement again.

The Eastern Conference playoffs were about to begin.

“I’m here ultimately for this opportunity,” he said in Florida.

There was a lightness about him after the game in Orlando, even though he was more injured than he let on and even as the team had stumbled across the finish line of the regular season. That carried over into his lone media session this week on Friday. Typically Lillard is a walking flatline – but you could feel the cracks and pops of that current of excitement.

During Bobby Portis’ turn in front of the microphone in the run-up to Sunday, he kept his question-and-answer session light, even-keeled and focused on Game 1 against the Pacers. But when told about Lillard’s anticipation, his eyes – hooded by his sweatshirt – fixed on the message: “Glad to hear he’s ready to roll, though.”

Pat Connaughton hasn’t prepared for a playoff with Lillard since the two were in Portland from 2015-18. They were younger, then, and Connaughton has since developed from a reserve fighting for minutes into a champion. He referenced Mike Tyson’s quote when thinking of Lillard’s coolness – “Everybody has a plan until they are punched in the mouth” – because the point guard is unflappable, always ready to respond to such… unappealing situations.

“To be in a playoff situation with him again, knowing that’s his mindset and that’s how he operates, will be really fun,” Connaughton said.

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The absence of Giannis Antetokounmpo only magnified all this for Lillard.

It is a massive 30-point hole to fill – but again, one of the other active top 75 players in NBA history was brought to Milwaukee to do just that when needed.

“He can’t do what Giannis does – he can do what Giannis does, Dame’s way,” Bucks head coach Doc Rivers acknowledged during the week.

“He can be dominant. There’s no doubt about that. And this will give him the opportunity to have the ball way more, which will allow him to be closer to the Dame that we know.”

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Damian Lillard has record-setting first half for Bucks vs. Pacers

From the opening tip, the Pacers wanted to make it clear how they were going to try to get Lillard off his game – with Andrew Nembhard counting the stitches around the “Milwaukee” and the “0” on Lillard’s green jersey. But the Bucks were disciplined with their screening and Lillard was patient, giving himself slivers of space to drive through and room to step back into.

He floated in a couple layups – including an and-one that saw him bow his shoulders in the direction of the Indiana bench. He then punctuated the quarter in the final seconds by waving off a Portis screen to set up T.J. McConnell one-on-one. Lillard massaged the dribble before hopping back to 29 feet. The ball went through the net as the clock hit zero – and he turned away and pounded his chest.

“This is what y’all brought me here for,” he told the crowd.

He scored 19 points and assisted on seven more of the Bucks’ 30 in the first quarter, giving the Bucks a nine-point margin to work with.

When Lillard returned at the 7-minute, 8-second mark in the second quarter the Bucks were up 20. When the half ended, they were up 69-42 and at one point led by as many as 30. That came on a twisting, contested layup that gave Lillard 29 points on 10-of-16 shooting.

Indiana had 29 points as a team at that juncture, on 12 of 40 shooting.

Lillard once again bowed up and flexed after knocking down a three-pointer on Nembhard that drew a foul, and he completed the four-point play to help the Bucks to a commanding halftime lead. He hit a catch-and-shoot 31-footer.

He also gave 6-foot, 11-inch Myles Turner a jab step before pulling up at 29 feet over, looking off Brook Lopez who had a nine-inch height advantage in the post.

In 19 first half minutes, Lillard had 35 points on 11-of-19 shooting – including a 6-of-10 mark from behind the three-point line. He also was 7 for 7 from the free throw line. It was the most points scored in a half of a playoff game in Bucks history.

“He’s got that prizefighter-like mentality,” Rivers said after the game. “It’s almost like he was training for the fight and then when the bell rings, he seems to be ready. That’s his mentality and that’s how he plays.”

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Tyrese Haliburton could only shake his head when asked about Lillard’s first half. Khris Middleton has seen such things before of course – particularly from Antetokounmpo – yet even he was searching for how to describe how difficult it is to work yourself up into a great performance and then actually pull it off.

“It’s one of those…” Middleton began, his eyes gradually rising to look off for the right words.

He couldn’t quite capture them.

“He’s a big-time player,” Middleton told the Journal Sentinel, raising his eyebrows. “Big-time players, big-performance players, they do stuff like that. I hope to see that more on a more consistent basis because everybody knows he can do it. We’ve all seen him do it for years. He just hasn’t done it here as much. Different scene, different team, whatever. So that’s all I can say about it. He’s a big-time performer. I’m excited to see him the rest of this series and hopefully even further.”

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Interestingly, Lillard didn’t score again in the game in going 0 for 5, he changed the geometry of the court by forcing the Pacers to double-team him on the inbound pass. Suddenly, there was more space for others to operate and Middleton surgically dissected Indiana for 15 second-half points on 6-of-8 shooting.

“It’s different because, like Giannis is in the paint, so it’s more packing the paint,” Middleton said. “You got a guy shooting from three feet past the half court line it extends the spacing and it’s more open court. It’s a little bit different. Now we have most of the court to work with. We’ll watch film and we’ll find a better way to attack and free him up a little bit more but if they want to do that that gives us the full court to attack and play four-on-three on the opposite side.”

Up on yet another stage after the game, Lillard again took a moment to reflect on what he had gone through to find himself in that seat after a Game 1 victory – the first step he helped the Bucks take toward checking off 15 more.

“So coming into it, I just, in my mind and in my heart I was just like man, I can’t come this far and not at least try to put everything into it and put my best foot forward,” he said. “So this is just one game, but I know it’s going to be a hard journey every night out. I’m just excited for this opportunity.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Damian Lillard's 'prizefighter' playoff game vs Pacers was masterclass