The last four remaining teams in the NBA Playoffs have a common denominator. Whether it's the Indiana Pacers, Boston Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves, or Dallas Mavericks, someone is about to win their first ring as a star. That honor has been constantly hunted by Damian Lillard since his days with the Portland Trail Blazers all the way to his first year with the Milwaukee Bucks. After crashing and burning alongside the Giannis Antetokounmpo-led squad, there are a lot of lingering feelings for this star guard.
No jealousy for the NBA Playoffs picture
Damian Lillard was absolutely leaving it all on the court during the Bucks' last hurrah against the Pacers. Unfortunately, his efforts just were not enough to carry the team without Giannis Antetokounmpo. Now, those very same opponents in the first round of the NBA Playoffs are in the Conference Finals. What does the star guard think of this? Well, he still sounds magnanimous despite the defeat, via NBA on TNT.
“Whenever you get into the playoffs and you get eliminated early, it's always tough to continue to watch. It's that first round of the playoffs, everybody's excited. As it continues to grow, there's more and more attention on fewer and fewer teams. Looking at it now, it's four teams left and you're looking at it like, ‘Man, this ain't even the teams that everybody was talking about having a chance. Now, they actually got a shot at winning a ring.'Somebody is going to win their first one. So, that's always hard to be on the outside looking in,” he said about the remaining teams in the NBA Playoffs picture.
Like Damian Lillard said, this postseason is all about new-age stars winning their first ring. Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Haliburton, Rudy Gobert, and Karl-Antony Towns are all about to get their shots at hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy. Only Pascal Siakam is the remaining star who previously reached the top of basketball immortality.
Damian Lillard leaves it all on the floor
The expectation was that Lillard was going to run an insane pick-your-poison two-man game with Giannis Antetokounmpo. Unfortunately, a soleus strain prevented all of that from happening in the NBA Playoffs. So, he reverted back to his Trail Blazers form and started lighting the Pacers up all on his own.
Lillard did not want to leave the court in all four games that they played in the NBA Playoffs. He was on the court for 39 minutes per night and shot 42% from the field despite having a little over 20 attempts a game. These shot-chucker numbers netted him 31.3 points to help keep the Bucks afloat.
He also kept the Bucks offense infectious and made the right passes for easy dimes. This gave him five assists as well. Lastly, he tried to shift the momentum away from the Pacers by stealing the ball at least once per matchup. It did not do much to impact these games but it showed a lot of his grit and willingness to keep the team alive. Imagine this and Antetokounmpo's competitiveness merging into one come next season. It would be unstoppable.
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