Damian Lillard became the first player in Bucks history to score at least 35 points and assist on 35 or more points on the same night.
On a night where the Milwaukee Bucks were without their best player, Giannis Antetokounmpo, due to injury management, Damian Lillard had to shoulder the majority of the offensive workload during their Wednesday night clash against the Toronto Raptors, especially with Khris Middleton still under a minutes restriction.
And Lillard delivered in a big way. The Bucks star had his best all-around game following the offseason trade that sent him to Milwaukee, dropping 37 points and 13 assists on 9-18 shooting from the field, 4-8 from deep, and 15-16 from the free-throw line en route to a 128-112 win.
In fact, this was such a huge bounce-back for the Bucks that they barely had any troubles handling a Raptors team that gave them fits earlier in the season. Lillard, in particular, was dominant, with Dennis Schroder and the rest of the Raptors defense at his mercy, and in the process, he put up a historic effort that would go down in the franchise history books.
Lillard makes Bucks history
Damian Lillard is the first player in Bucks franchise history to score at least 35 points and assist on 35 or more points on the same night, via ESPN Stats & Info.
Malik Beasley, in particular, was the most common recipient of a Lillard dime; Beasley, who made eight of his 11 attempts from deep on his way to tallying 30 points, had seven of his buckets assisted by the Bucks floor general, with the sharpshooting backcourt finishing with a combined 67 points on the night.
Lillard was coming off a nightmare game against the Chicago Bulls on Monday night; during that game, he finished with just 12 points and five assists on 3-17 shooting from the floor, so to see him put up this performance should ease any worries Bucks fans may have regarding the star point guard.
The Bucks have an upcoming back-to-back set on Friday and Saturday, taking on the Charlotte Hornets in the NBA In-Season Tournament and then the Dallas Mavericks less than 24 hours later. As of now, Lillard’s status for that back-to-back set isn’t quite clear. But one thing’s for sure, he’ll be looking to keep his stellar play going for the weekend.
