On Thursday night, Damian Lillard made his debut with the Milwaukee Bucks in their narrow home victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Although he got off to a quiet first quarter start, Lillard came alive in the final three frames, finishing the night with 39 points for the Bucks.

With the high scoring output, Lillard made a bit of Bucks history, as 39 is the most points a player has ever scored in their Milwaukee debut, per Jamal Collier of ESPN.

Lillard was indeed electric in the victory over the Sixers. His impact was particularly magnified down the stretch, as he hit a heavily contested three pointer over the outstretched arms of Kelly Oubre with just over a minute remaining to put the Bucks up by 5.

This marked the first example of Lillard solving Milwaukee's biggest problem from last year's shocking playoff defeat to the Miami Heat: their late game offensive execution. As great as Giannis Antetokounmpo is–and he is great–he is not necessarily a “closer” in the modern NBA; most great teams have at least one bona fide threat from the perimeter that can knock down contested jump shots when the offense breaks down late in games.

Damian Lillard did exactly that on Thursday night in helping propel his new team over the Sixers, capping off a dominant debut that couldn't have gone much better following this summer's high-profile trade.

Lillard and the Bucks will next take the floor against the Atlanta Hawks on October 29. That game is slated to tip off at 7:00 PM ET from Milwaukee.