By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
The Milwaukee Bucks won in Dallas against the Mavericks, thanks to an outstanding performance from Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.
After the game, Greek international spoke about their offensive connection compared to the one he had with Khris Middleton when he played in Milwaukee.
“We need to play with each other. At the end of the day, we need to understand that we’re both threats. People worry when Dame gets the ball on a handoff and shoots a three. People worry when I set a screen and roll hard. We can make so many plays. We talk to each other, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but we do it.
We’ve been doing it all year, but in the last few games, we’ve managed to close out some games like this. Is there any duo in the NBA that scores more than me and him? I think people have created this narrative that me and Dame don’t work well together, but no one is doing it better than me and him right now. At the end of the day, we’ve played competitive games this season against the best teams in the NBA, and we managed to win the NBA Cup.
Of course, we’ve had some ups and downs during the season, but we’re playing good basketball overall. I believe things will improve with time. For example, I was with Khris for 12 years, which is why we could connect with our eyes closed. The connection I have with Dame in our second year together is better than the connection I had with Khris in our second year together.
We play with each other, we understand we have to lead the team. I know his abilities are different from mine, but at the end of the day, if we want to win, we need to rely on each other. That’s what we’re doing this year. We trust each other, we trust our teammates. We’re experienced enough to understand that we’re here to win. We want to create a winning mindset, we want to win,” Аntetokounmpo explained.
Looking at the total points of all the players in the NBA, Giannis and Lillard are fifth on the scoring list of teammates with 2,695 points together, behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams from the OKC Thunder (3,050), New York Knicks‘ Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns (2,813), Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets (2,701), and the Boston Celtics‘ pair of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown (2,698).