Set to play in the postseason for the first time since 2021, Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard has a lot on his plate heading into a first-round Eastern Conference playoff series with the Indiana Pacers.
Milwaukee will be without superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo for the start of the series and possibly beyond, leaving the Bucks’ offense in Lillard’s hands.
And the 33-year-old isn’t going to be able to save Milwaukee from its second straight first-round exit by himself.
Damian Lillard needs Milwaukee Bucks teammates to step up
In eight regular-season games without Antetokounmpo and with Lillard, the Bucks went 4-4. Lillard did stuff the stat sheet in those contests, though, recording averages of 29.9 points, 7.6 assists, and 4.3 rebounds.
It’s a good reminder that individual success doesn’t always translate to team success, especially for a Bucks team that heavily relies on the availability of its starters. Milwaukee ended the regular season with the fourth-highest scoring first unit in the entire NBA (86.5 points per game).
Opposing guards averaged a whopping 73.0 points per game against the Pacers during the 2023-24 campaign, but Lillard failed to capitalize on Indiana’s lackluster perimeter defense. He averaged 20.3 points on 32.4 percent shooting from the field and 26.5 percent shooting from 3-point range in four games against the Pacers.
It wasn’t just Lillard that struggled against Indiana, it was the Bucks as a whole. Milwaukee went 1-4 against the Pacers during the regular season, with one of those losses coming in the in-season tournament.
Antetokounmpo played in all five of those contests, and the Bucks needed 64 points from him in their lone victory against Indiana. He also had a 54-point showing against the Pacers on Nov. 9, but Milwaukee still ended up losing, 126-124.
So if the Bucks often didn’t have enough firepower to contend with Indiana with both Antetokounmpo and Lillard on the floor, how are they supposed to fare with just Lillard?
Pretty poorly, if we had to guess.
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Bucks need a classic ‘Dame Time’ performance to advance
Don’t get us wrong, Lillard has had his moments during Year 1 in Milwaukee. After all, he did get to point to his wrist to alert spectators that it was “Dame Time” after drilling a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to sink the Sacramento Kings 143-142 in overtime on Jan. 14.
But when it comes to stepping up to be “the” guy, that’s where Lillard hasn’t been nearly consistent enough.
It might be a hard pill for Bucks fans to swallow, but the Antetokounmpo-Lillard duo isn’t the 1A-1B situation Milwaukee thought it was going to be when it traded for Lillard this past offseason.
This is still clearly Antetokounmpo’s team, with Lillard serving as an elite No. 2 option.
Of course, with Antetokounmpo sidelined, Lillard will likely be tempted to put the Bucks on his back and try to pull off Blazer-esque performance after Blazer-esque performance against the Pacers.
However, if the Bucks want to redeem themselves for last year’s first-round slip-up against the Miami Heat, they’ll need all hands on deck.
One man isn’t going to win the series for Milwaukee, but one man could certainly lose it.
–Milwaukee-trained Marquette grad Nick Galle covers the NBA for Field Level Media.
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