LOS ANGELES (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo quickly realized how different life would be playing with seven-time All-Star Damian Lillard compared to the rest of his 11-year NBA career.
The two-time MVP realized it all but one possession into the pair's first preseason game together against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.
"I'll be very honest," Antetokounmpo said after the Bucks' 108-97 victory. And, first and foremost, I've never seen someone being double-teamed from the start of a game."
Lillard, who joined the Bucks in a three-team trade with the Phoenix Suns and the Portland Trail Blazers last month, claimed that playing with Antetokounmpo made the Lakers' defensive strategies easier to understand.
"Having another guy out there that's just dominant," Lillard said after Antetokounmpo scored 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting in 15 minutes. "He can dominate a game and win it for you."
... The first few of plays, they blitz me, trap me, and the guy I'm releasing the ball to is Giannis. So I simply thought, 'Uh, we can do this all night.' "Do you understand what I mean?"
When Lillard grabbed the ball from Lakers center Christian Wood and rushed up court, throwing a bullet of a pass to notch up an assist on an Antetokounmpo transition slam, the duo officially logged their partnership in the scorebook midway through the first quarter. Lillard didn't take his first shot until the next possession, with 6:24 remaining in the first, when he was fouled outside the 3-point line by D'Angelo Russell.
They played pick-and-roll in the half court. When Lillard handled the ball, Antetokounmpo set the screen; when the roles were reversed, Lillard used his 6-foot-2, 195-pound body to spring the Bucks star.
"We're going to have a lot of options," added Lillard. "There's going to be times where he's willing to make the play to me, and vice versa, as we saw today."
Milwaukee led 56-53 at halftime, and Bucks coach Adrian Griffin rested Antetokounmpo for the rest of the game. Lillard finished with 14 points on 3-for-10 shooting, including 6-for-6 from the charity stripe, four steals, and three assists. He started the second half, allowing him to dominate the play without Antetokounmpo on the floor, before resting in the fourth.
Griffin was thrilled with what he witnessed despite the fact that Antetokounmpo and Lillard only shared the court for a couple of quarters in the third game of the Bucks' five-game preseason schedule.
"Today was a great first step in the right direction," he remarked. "You can already see those guys enjoy playing together. Not just Dame and Giannis, but everyone was rooting for one another."
The 28-year-old Antetokounmpo commended the 33-year-old Lillard for who he is as a person as he did as a player.
"I feel like it's a little version of me," Antetokounmpo said. "The guard version... Quiet. He goes about his work. He looks after his family.
Arrives on time. He works quite hard in practice. When he needs to be vocal, he assists his teammates. And when the game begins, he's just a murderer."
While the Bucks' big man has helped his team win 50 games or more in four of the last five seasons and win a championship in 2021, he has been an eager student of Lillard's during training camp, particularly when it comes to Milwaukee's new offense, which was implemented by assistant coach Terry Stotts, who was Lillard's head coach in Portland.
"I learned so much from him," Antetokounmpo said about Lillard. "He understands how to play this game." He puts himself in a position to succeed. He assists us and puts me in a position to succeed."
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