Damian Lillard reacts in one word as ignorance of NBA Cup goes viral
Damian Lillard and the Milwaukee Bucks took care of business in Las Vegas on Sunday. The Atlanta Hawks didn't make it easy for them, but in the end, Doc Rivers' team held on to get a close win to punch their tickets to the NBA Emirates Cup final.
Lillard arrived in the arena like a man on a mission, and one fan took notice of how different his approach was from last season.
He even went as far as to claim that Lillard was drunk last year, so the former Portland Trail Blazers star had to hit back at him:
"Foh," he wrote on X.
Lillard didn't want to make the same mistake from last season, so he didn't touch the trophy or even look at it.
Of course, the fans took notice:
"Dame please don’t touch that trophy like last year. I seen a video of Shai doing it this year so we should be in great shape rn," one of them wrote.
"Players who stare at the trophy before final never won it. Lillard move away from that trophy. I wanna see u lift it up asap," another one added.
"Locked in," a fan chimed in.
It seems like Lillard, just like many other players, is taking this In-Season Tournament more seriously now:
“It’s just a lot on the line,” Lillard said after the win. “It requires you to focus. You’ve got to come and get the job done. So I think, in that way, it’s similar to a playoff experience, just that you’ve got to get the job done.
"As the years continue to go by, I think it will carry more and more weight. People will start to care more and more about it.”
Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo react to the Bucks' season's turnaround
The Bucks looked like a team that could blow up the roster or fire their coach earlier in the season. With that in mind, Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo shed light on their recent surge:
"(The Bucks) are starting to build into the team we envisioned during training camp, and we just got to keep building on that," Lillard said.
“We’ve changed our season around,” Giannis said. “But we’ve got to keep going. The job is not done so far. We’ve got to keep playing together and hope we get better.”
Antetokounmpo talked about the importance of team basketball as the catalyst behind this surge:
“In the beginning of the season, we tried to do it by ourselves. It had a bad effect on the team," the 'Greek Freak' added. "We figured out we have to compete as a team, move the ball as a team, compete together. We trust each other. We play together. There’s no more hero ball."
The Bucks are now 14-11 for the season and sixth in the Eastern Conference. Moreover, they will look to take the NBA Cup trophy back to Wisconsin on Tuesday when they square off against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the final.