Speaker 1: Lillard gets a start Lillard, it goes and one for
Speaker 1: Damian Lillard.
Speaker 2: Wow, what a debut.
Speaker 3: Welcome into NBA Pulse. I'm Sarah Kustack, NBA analyst for
Speaker 3: the Yes Network. Today is Friday, October twenty seventh, and
Speaker 3: from our extraordinary core group of NBA journalists. We're joined
Speaker 3: now by NBA dot Com senior writer Steve Ashburner and
Speaker 3: Ash you are in Milwaukee. You got to experience the
Speaker 3: thrill of being ad Pfizer Forum last night for the
Speaker 3: Bucks Philadelphia seventy six ers matchup the debut of Dame
Speaker 3: Lillard in that Milwaukee Bucks uniform. How you doing this morning.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm doing great, and Milwaukee fans, I think are
Speaker 2: doing even better than me, because you know, every so often,
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, you look at these things on
Speaker 2: paper and you get the quotes, and you hear people
Speaker 2: talk about this sort of stuff. But I mean, this
Speaker 2: played out on the floor as if it had been scripted.
Speaker 2: The atmosphere Adfiser Forum was playoff like the opening Night's
Speaker 2: a big deal, but this was bigger than that because
Speaker 2: of what this potentially means for the very end of
Speaker 2: the season, as opposed to the very start of the season,
Speaker 2: and yeah, I mean it was. It was a really
Speaker 2: good game to be at. I did in Chicago the
Speaker 2: night before, so I know, we right don't want to
Speaker 2: talk too much about the Bulls performance there. So if
Speaker 2: that was one sort of opening night, this was a
Speaker 2: proper sort of opening night. The atmosphere, the performances, in
Speaker 2: the significance.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so let's get into it. One eighteen one to
Speaker 3: seventeen Milwaukee Bucks win came down to the finish, and
Speaker 3: Damian Lillard was sensational. After spending those eleven years with Portland,
Speaker 3: he comes out of this one thirty nine points, eight rebounds.
Speaker 3: He was seventeen of seventeen from the free throw line.
Speaker 3: Giannis had twenty three points thirteen rebounds Philadelphia. I mean
Speaker 3: this was a game of runs. Milwaukee in that first
Speaker 3: half at some point had a nineteen point lead. They
Speaker 3: closed things out towards the end of the game with
Speaker 3: a nineteen to two run. Coming back after the seventy
Speaker 3: six Ers had a tremendous showing. No James Harden still
Speaker 3: without the team. We'll get into that in a little bit.
Speaker 3: But Joel Embiid twenty four points. Tyre Smaxi thirty one points.
Speaker 3: Kelly Oubre had twenty seven off the bench. That was
Speaker 3: four seventy six ers with at least twenty points. But
Speaker 3: Damian Lillard specifically, there was so much speculation, expectation how
Speaker 3: well he would fit in with this Milwaukee team, with
Speaker 3: the roster of the personnel, with how he plays with
Speaker 3: Giannis and Tatakunpo, Adrian Griffin as well in his first
Speaker 3: year as the Milwaukee Bucks head coach. What stood out
Speaker 3: to you most about this performance by Dame in this setting.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll be honest with you, I think the the
Speaker 2: confidence of Damian Lillard struck me. And I've seen him
Speaker 2: play you know, uh fair amount during during his his
Speaker 2: long career to this point. But to hear him afterwards
Speaker 2: and and just it all sort of fell into place.
Speaker 2: Why a guy his size can be can have such
Speaker 2: a great impact on NBA games and an NBA team.
Speaker 2: I mean, he is a professional scorer. He can explain
Speaker 2: down to the most minute movement what he did and
Speaker 2: say his last three pointer where he got, you know
Speaker 2: he got I think it was Kelly Oubre junior sort
Speaker 2: of dancing, uh, change direction, change direction, Debbie Lillard reported.
Speaker 3: Flies Debbie Lillard doing what he does.
Speaker 2: What he saw in order to initiate his Just the
Speaker 2: way he breaks that down, it's so technical sounding and
Speaker 2: yet it is all done and processed in you know,
Speaker 2: split seconds. And and to me, I mean, there's the
Speaker 2: books didn't have anybody, you know, capable of that sort
Speaker 2: of professionalism as a late game offensive player. You know,
Speaker 2: it was a lot of in the past, It's been
Speaker 2: a lot of you take the shot, no, you tell
Speaker 2: you know, it's like it's a hot potato. And ultimately, honest,
Speaker 2: because of his status with the team, would try to
Speaker 2: make something happen. And now they have this guy, and
Speaker 2: you know they're they're happy to hand over the ball
Speaker 2: to him. That trust in his reputation, his game, you know,
Speaker 2: it's there from the very beginning. And and that's a
Speaker 2: credit to Jannis Frankly and to the other the rest
Speaker 2: of the Bucks that they will let this the new guy.
Speaker 2: You know, we all are around situations where we're either
Speaker 2: the new guy or we're around the new guy, and
Speaker 2: it's like there's that time where it takes to you know,
Speaker 2: yet let him be a part of the group, or
Speaker 2: or where he just naturally feels a part man. That
Speaker 2: has been fast tracked. Damian Lillard is ready to go.
Speaker 2: They are ready to have him, and it all showed
Speaker 2: up on the very first night of the season for them.
Speaker 2: So that to me is just professional game closing, offensive master.
Speaker 3: Without a doubt. And Yannis even said this is Dame's team,
Speaker 3: which you know, see how that plays out, but just
Speaker 3: an example of the unselfishness. It's gonna be interesting to
Speaker 3: watch you easing Chris Middleton back in. He played sixteen
Speaker 3: minutes and had six points, but sacrifices he will make.
Speaker 3: How Adrian Griffin continues to work that in and as
Speaker 3: you mentioned, you know, the ability to have someone to close,
Speaker 3: put the ball in their hands and understand how to
Speaker 3: finish games. That's exactly who Damian Lillard is and that's
Speaker 3: exactly what this Milwaukee team needed. With that being said,
Speaker 3: are they the title favorites in your mind?
Speaker 2: Well, I don't. I don't consider them the title favorites.
Speaker 2: I think Boston because of the addition to Drew Holliday
Speaker 2: and obviously with prazingis prior to even the Lillard deal.
Speaker 2: I think Boston got every every bit as much better
Speaker 2: as the Milwaukee Bucks. Milwaukee got what he needed, he
Speaker 2: needed offense, he needed it, needed a sense of what
Speaker 2: happens late in close games. But you know, Drew Holliday
Speaker 2: is a defensive master, just as as uh Liar is
Speaker 2: an offensive master. I think the Bucks will miss that.
Speaker 2: I think Boston will benefit from that. Having given up
Speaker 2: Marcus Smart in the Porzingis deal, that's a pretty good
Speaker 2: clawback to end up with Drew Holliday in their backcourt
Speaker 2: as as a you know, quote unquote replacement. So I
Speaker 2: don't consider them the favorite, but I do think they're
Speaker 2: a better team than they were overall because they needed
Speaker 2: Lillard and and could sacrifice a little bit defensively. But
Speaker 2: they will miss I just think it's a two man
Speaker 2: Eastern paferend or two team Eastern Conference for the most part,
Speaker 2: and then Killer West, and we'll see who emergants from both.
Speaker 3: With that being said, two team Eastern Conference, there was
Speaker 3: some thought heading into this offseason, early on, at some
Speaker 3: point that Philadelphia would have something to say about that,
Speaker 3: and it's not to say they still won't. To think
Speaker 3: about the fact, as I mentioned, four players with at
Speaker 3: least twenty points last night, Kelly Ubre really strong off
Speaker 3: the bench, Joel Embiid doing his thing. Tyree Maxey was excellent,
Speaker 3: but without James Harden, he is not with the team,
Speaker 3: told not to come on the trip. What is your
Speaker 3: expectation with what will happen with this James Harden situation?
Speaker 3: In just how Nick Nurse in his first year with
Speaker 3: Toronto trying to manage this, how he addressed the media
Speaker 3: with this circumstances situation.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well it's it's obviously, it's sore points. It's a
Speaker 2: cloud for now the over the Sixers, Nick Nurse, asked
Speaker 2: directly about the hardened situation, gave sort of a tight
Speaker 2: lipped official response. You know, there's been a report that
Speaker 2: James came back to the team and that the team
Speaker 2: has left him off this trip for conditioning purposes, and
Speaker 2: that was it. Now. They're also is talk that the
Speaker 2: Sixers are not bothered by this. The players are not
Speaker 2: bothered by this. And look, every coach I've ever covered
Speaker 2: will say I'm here to coach the guys that are
Speaker 2: in this room, and they don't worry about who's injured.
Speaker 2: They don't worry about the trade rumors. I don't know
Speaker 2: the guys they you know, they focus on the task
Speaker 2: at hand. And you know it's sort of self fulfilling.
Speaker 2: You have to do that. But players, I think maybe
Speaker 2: it can be the same way. This is an opportunity
Speaker 2: for Tyrese, Maxim, Kelly Hubray Junior, who was as I
Speaker 2: understand it, I mean, he's a one year Verian minimums
Speaker 2: deal who signed rather late in the summertime. He was
Speaker 2: available for anybody, and you know, I mean he was
Speaker 2: a godsend in that game when it looked like the
Speaker 2: Bucks were going to blow them out earlier in the evening,
Speaker 2: you know, he and Maxie kept things going. Maxy to
Speaker 2: me is he's going to flourish without James Harden on
Speaker 2: the court because of the way he plays. He's in
Speaker 2: constant motion. The Sixers get him the ball when he's
Speaker 2: headed downhill. He's so quick and it's it puts incredible
Speaker 2: stress on an NBA defense. The way Maxie plays, He's
Speaker 2: got so much bounce in his game. So to a man, look,
Speaker 2: I was never a great hardened proponent in the best
Speaker 2: of James time, where he was, you know, an MVP candidate.
Speaker 2: I didn't like watching his style of play. But to
Speaker 2: think that he could come in now past his prime
Speaker 2: and do anything similar to what he has always done,
Speaker 2: which is to pound the ball and you know, maybe
Speaker 2: hand it off, you know, when there's three seconds left
Speaker 2: in the shop clock. I think Philadelphi will be the
Speaker 2: worst for it. And I think that the biggest hurtle,
Speaker 2: beyond the fact you want consistency from Maxi and Ubra
Speaker 2: and Anthony Melton and others who will pick up minutes
Speaker 2: from this, is getting Joel and Bid to wrap his
Speaker 2: head around this that he he has these young guys
Speaker 2: who can be extremely effective. They're not top seventy five
Speaker 2: status players. And he looks at Janis who now has
Speaker 2: this new shiny Damian Lillard next to him, and you know,
Speaker 2: Embiids seemed a little detached last night for much of
Speaker 2: the game. He sounded fine afterward, but it was it's
Speaker 2: like he's going to have to get on board with
Speaker 2: this and it's going to frankly take you know, good
Speaker 2: feedback in the results. You know, if they fall, you know,
Speaker 2: under five hundred and stay there for you know, a
Speaker 2: chunk of the season, it'll be tough. I think on
Speaker 2: him to be the MVP type player that he was
Speaker 2: last year. If they win some games and these young
Speaker 2: guys play a big role in that. I think indeed
Speaker 2: can can see two that maybe they're gonna be better
Speaker 2: off than a continuing to age James Harden going back
Speaker 2: to old waves.
Speaker 3: We will be watching. It did take a nineteen to
Speaker 3: two run by Milwaukee to come back for that one
Speaker 3: point when they're on their home floor, and in another
Speaker 3: one of the others. Tobias Harris has often talked about
Speaker 3: shots and usage and in field goal to twenty point.
Speaker 3: He will have his opportunities as well. We're gonna take
Speaker 3: a quick break, but coming back man. We had a
Speaker 3: banging lineup last night, not only Milwaukee Philly, but the
Speaker 3: Lakers in the Suns and Lebron James in his twenty
Speaker 3: first year looking like a twenty one year old. Don't
Speaker 3: go on right.
Speaker 1: Watch Lebron James in this high chicken roll. Find one
Speaker 1: of the shooters in the quarter screen from Davis takes
Speaker 1: it in. James puts it in. Oh, he puts his
Speaker 1: way for two big plays.
Speaker 2: Qua James.
Speaker 3: Welcome back to NBA Pulse, Sarahkustak joined by the great
Speaker 3: Steve Ashburner, as we had two tremendous games last night
Speaker 3: there in our Thursday Showcases, we begin this season and
Speaker 3: it gets underway out west. The Los Angeles Lakers Phoenix
Speaker 3: Suns five point game. It was tremendous. Now Sons were
Speaker 3: down a few players still no Bradley Beal and no
Speaker 3: Devin Booker with a sore right foot. He is hopefully
Speaker 3: expected to play on Saturday when Phoenix takes on the
Speaker 3: Utah Jazz. However, it was tremendous watching Lebron James Kevin Durant.
Speaker 3: We hadn't seen that in quite some time due to injuries.
Speaker 3: And there was the discussion of Lebron James, especially after
Speaker 3: that Denver Nuggets game, about a minutes limit, how they
Speaker 3: will use him, what type of restrictions in here his
Speaker 3: twenty first year played just twenty nine minutes in that
Speaker 3: Denver Nuggets loss, thirty five minutes. He was tremendous in
Speaker 3: the fourth quarter, had ten points in that frame alone.
Speaker 3: Finishes with twenty one to eight and nine. Anthony Davis
Speaker 3: with thirty points and twelve rebounds. Kevin Durant had thirty
Speaker 3: nine points and eleven rebounds. Big big third quarter for Durant,
Speaker 3: but a lot of attention, a lot of focus on him.
Speaker 3: When you look at the Lakers, you look at Lebron James,
Speaker 3: you look at what they're trying to accomplish here this season.
Speaker 3: What stands out to you about an opener like that
Speaker 3: one in the matchup we see between two greats of
Speaker 3: the game.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean you mentioned Lebron in his twenty first season.
Speaker 2: I've seen players in their twenty first seasons, whether it's
Speaker 2: Kevin Garnett or Kevin Willis way back when, or Vince Carter,
Speaker 2: and you know, you you naturally see them at the
Speaker 2: tail end of careers in terms of the players they
Speaker 2: are on the floor, They they receive, they take a
Speaker 2: lesser role within their team, and you know, everyone's happy
Speaker 2: to have them around, but it's like their best days
Speaker 2: are past and that's that, and eventually they'll they'll get
Speaker 2: their retirement ceremony. With Lebron, it's different. I mean, he
Speaker 2: is still has he has top of the line performances
Speaker 2: in him, and I think what it comes down to
Speaker 2: with him is how deep into games can he continue
Speaker 2: to be effective on any given nights inside right too,
Speaker 2: you know the Lakers going to be in trouble if
Speaker 2: they need Lebron to play thirty five minutes in order
Speaker 2: to win games. You know, if he's opening night, he
Speaker 2: played what twenty nine and they lost, and so you know,
Speaker 2: it's it's they still are Lebron dependent beyond what they
Speaker 2: were supposed to be when Anthony Davis came aboard this
Speaker 2: This baton was supposed to have been handed off a
Speaker 2: while ago. And I think Davis, with his injuries, with
Speaker 2: his personality, I think he has be deviled Lebron a
Speaker 2: bit by not being able to or willing to or
Speaker 2: whatever to take over the you know, the centerpiece status
Speaker 2: for that team on a nightly basis. You know, that's
Speaker 2: that's that's a source of frustration and a lot of
Speaker 2: speculation in terms of, you know, is that ever going
Speaker 2: to happen with Davis? So, you know, I thought the
Speaker 2: Lakers roster was improved, you know, tremendously in the off season.
Speaker 2: But if the dynamic of Lebron having to be the
Speaker 2: guy who carries in his twenty first year, if that,
Speaker 2: if that isn't lessened by what these other guys do,
Speaker 2: and you know, everything takes a little time, chemistry and
Speaker 2: and you know, new roles in a pecking order and
Speaker 2: all of that, but it does need to happen otherwise
Speaker 2: I have a hard time taking the Lakers seriously as
Speaker 2: a top contender, I know, playoffs or not. You know,
Speaker 2: the back to backs in the playoffs, and Lebron is
Speaker 2: in incredible shape. You know, I've always said he's the
Speaker 2: best conditioned and prepared the physically player in team sport history.
Speaker 2: You know, at least that I'm aware of. But by
Speaker 2: the time you get to May, if if if somebody
Speaker 2: else isn't isn't stepping up on a regular basis, and
Speaker 2: somebody else's Davis, I don't see them coming out of
Speaker 2: the West.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's where I think the interesting part with
Speaker 3: Anthony Davis and Darvin Ham talked about this after the
Speaker 3: game about him being aggressive and ad has thirty points scoreless,
Speaker 3: and the fourth part it was Lebron James need to
Speaker 3: take over then And you know, you look at this
Speaker 3: game and it was tremendous. It was fun to watch.
Speaker 3: But the fact that Phoenix was with no Bradley Beal
Speaker 3: and no Devin Booker, so they were down guys. They're
Speaker 3: a very top heavy team at that so the fact
Speaker 3: that it took all of that, took all of that
Speaker 3: from from Lebron. It's going to be interesting to see
Speaker 3: your point. I'm also just I continue to be fascinated
Speaker 3: by this Phoenix team because the Lakers threw everything, through
Speaker 3: everything at Kevin Durant there in that third quarter and
Speaker 3: or in the fourth quarter. In the third quarter, Durant
Speaker 3: went off and he was bananas. But then after that,
Speaker 3: you know, you look at what he had to do,
Speaker 3: the responsibility he had to take on the fourth quarter.
Speaker 3: I mean, Lakers go into the fourth quarter down twelve points,
Speaker 3: and that's where I think the questions come in about
Speaker 3: how these teams match up. And continuing to talk, we
Speaker 3: talked about title favors, favorites and Milwaukee and what it
Speaker 3: looks like in the East in the West. Hill, I think,
Speaker 3: you know, Denver is one that we continue to look
Speaker 3: at with the completeness of their team, the depth of
Speaker 3: their team. So I'm fascinated to watch how this continues
Speaker 3: to play out. But in partin killer with how much
Speaker 3: of a load Lebron James, despite what they're trying to do,
Speaker 3: how they're trying to manage it, how much of a
Speaker 3: load that he has to carry. We're going to be
Speaker 3: tracking it all season long. As always, Ash, we appreciate you,
Speaker 3: We appreciate your time, and we look forward to a
Speaker 3: great start to the season.
Speaker 2: Travel safe, We're talking with you, Sarah.
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