The Milwaukee Bucks sluggishly opened the 2024-25 season but have drastically turned things around with a red-hot 12-3 run since mid-November. Adding to their momentum, they unofficially have one more win that doesn't count towards the regular season standings—the 2024 Emirates NBA Cup Championship.
The Bucks defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in convincing fashion, 97-81. Now in a different jersey, Lillard continues to haunt the Thunder—the team he famously torched with his iconic 37-foot 'bad shot' to send the Blazers to the Western Conference Semifinals in 2019.
Damian Lillard shows up when it matters the most
The NBA Cup isn't the Finals or even a playoff series, but it still matters—especially for Milwaukee, a team that may have second-guessed their decision to go all-in with a Giannis-Dame pairing.
The stakes felt even higher for Lillard. Over the past two seasons, he's endured a messy trade request out of Portland, not landing in Miami as he'd hoped, and a first-round exit in a down year with Milwaukee. But, in typical Dame fashion, the heightened tournament stage brought out the best in him.
Here were his numbers throughout the NBA Cup:
- 27.3 PPG
- 8.3 APG
- 4.0 RPG
- 1.2 SPG
- 48.5 FG%
- 45.9 3P% (10.2 3PA)
- 95 FT%
Giannis was the MVP, and deservedly so. In the championship game, he finished with a video game stat line of 26 points, 19 rebounds, 10 assists, three blocks, and two steals.
But Lillard certainly played his part as one of the best co-stars in the entire league, finishing with 23 points, four assists, four rebounds, 6-of-12 shooting from the field, and 5-of-10 from three. His five three-pointers tied the entire Thunder team.
This was Lillard's most impressive shot of the game that sums up how the night went:
Damian Lillard hit this TOUGH fadeaway three from the corner 😲
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 18, 2024
What a shot by Dame!pic.twitter.com/JcjOh3buXc
He also thoroughly outplayed MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 21 points on 8-of-24 shooting from the field. Lillard's 23 points don't jump off the page, but his efficiency stood out, as he frequently deferred to Giannis. Without Chet Holmgren (hip fracture), the Thunder's undersized frontcourt had no answer for the Greek Freak.
The Bucks are learning how reliable Lillard is in pivotal games and moments, something Blazers fans are well aware of. He showed a glimpse of that in their first-round exit last year to the Pacers, where Lillard had 31.3 points and 5.0 assists while shooting 41.7 percent from beyond the arc. But he's taken it one step further with his new team in this NBA Cup run.
Congrats, Dame! Now go win the bigger championship so you can come home.