Damian Lillard Postgame Press Conference | 2.12.24

Damian Lillard Postgame Press Conference | 2.12.24

How did you feel like your team uh responded to the last time that you played the nuggets two weeks ago and what did you make of like your team’s execution communication Etc out there tonight I thought it was great you know we um played them to to start our last road

Trip and I thought we started the game against them really well in Denver you know the ball was moving I thought we got stops we got out in transition obviously um on the road it’s harder to sustain that you know playing an altitude uh it was Doc’s first game

Coaching so it was just a lot a lot of moving parts and um I think tonight we was able to continue our momentum from the last game and you know having some physicality defensively getting out in transition moving the ball and um we was able to sustain it I thought that was

The the biggest difference tonight is we just kind of kept going and the communication seemed to be at a really high level um what got it there for you with this game uh I just think it’s the the accountability you know when we we watch in film when we in our meetings uh

In practice I think Doc is just and and our entire staff they’re doing a great job of just calling everything out you know they challenging us in a lot of different ways you know our communication how physical we are um how we carry ourselves as a group um trying

To find our identity you know who do we want to be who are we going to who we going to step like when we get on the floor and I think we just having a lot of carryover because there you know so much conversation around it hey D right

Here uh another game for you guys holding an opponent under 100 points just dovetailing off that just what have you seen as the biggest Improvement on the defensive side of the ball since doc took over uh I think we just you know we’ve taken a lot of time to um I would

Say I guess simplified things you know we doing a lot of walking through you know just walking through scenarios and situations and uh different things that teams might try to do against us you know when we on the defensive side of the floor uh some things that we could do

Well and um I think we’ve just embraced it you know uh you know I think the the walkthroughs and you know the the small attention to detail type things that we’ve been going over time and time and time again then we do it in film uh you know I think it’s really

Starting to help us and um you know we like I said we having carryover and is uh something that we able to sustain over the course of a game hey Dame I know early on you know the winds were trans but there was progress being made and now the progress

Is leading to more wins for you guys how much more can this team unlock and how important is it now that you guys are putting it all together I think the the beauty of you know everything that we’ve been through as a team so far this

Season and uh how much room we have to grow is that you know it’s it’s a lot of lot of season left um and like you said we’ve been able to to find ways to get it done and and win games and we haven’t been our best selves you know on either

End of the the floor so um I think that’s something for us to be excited about and you know we could be better offensively we can be better defensively so I think it’s it’s a lot to be unlocked it’s still a lot of things that

Um we haven’t been able to do at a high level for a long period of time you know whether that’s a full game or over a stretch of games uh so you know the closer we get to that I think it’ll it’ll be great but we struggled a little bit initially I

Think it was just changing some of our our foundation that we’ve you know grown accustomed to over the first couple months of the season and um now that it’s down we starting to pick up on it we starting to understand better we getting more and more connected and uh

You know I think now we starting to take off a little bit and you know start to look like it on the floor and win some games what’s your favorite part of the all-star weekend my favorite part of the Allstar Weekend um just getting the experience with my

Family you know I’m usually there with my family and um I think because we we do this job every single day you know you come to practice and you watch film and you come to the games like we um I don’t think we actually take it for

Granted in our hearts but anytime you do something so consistently you just get used to it and you kind of lose sight of how how big of a deal it is to be able to accomplish our dreams playing in the NBA so being a part of all-star weekend

Is like a a step up you know so I think for my family to be able to come and see me at that level you know playing in the game with the best players in the game um for the eighth time starting for the first time uh I remember going to

Allstar Weekend as a kid in Oakland and just all the entertainment that was there you know so my kids being able to experience that my family being able to experience that through me is um probably my favorite part of just being there just late in the first quarter

There you and Yiannis were both on the bench with a couple fouls and y’all were able to get in like a s nothing run there at the end of that first quarter that carried over the second just how big a lift was that the way that kind of

The sporting cast kind of came through late in the first I think you obviously you have your starters but I think you know the the best teams in the league are the the complete teams the teams with depth you know where guys come in

Do their job they able to step up and um do their jobs regardless of you know what the the main guys are doing or how the game is going and against Denver specifically uh the first time you know they bench came in and they really impacted the game in Denver and um

Tonight I thought our bench did the the exact same thing to them you know I picked up two early fouls Giannis had two early fouls and it wasn’t even a conversation you know it wasn’t even brought up it was just like come in and

Do what what you got to do and I thought our bench really um they really carried us in that first half yeah looking ahead to tomorrow what from tonight do you think is going to translate well when you face the Heat and you know you guys

Were talking on the bench about how you want to give a lot of energy tonight but still try to conserve for tomorrow how do you find that balance um I just think you have to um for us we just got to understand what went into the game tonight you know the

Way we played how we were focused you know the attention to detail knowing Personnel um knowing The Scouting Report playing for each other playing hard you know all of those things gave us a chance to dominate a team like this tonight and um the fact that we you know

We played a little bit lower minutes tonight because we had a big lead we just got to understand that those things gave us a chance to do that you know it wasn’t easy and um I think if we come out tomorrow with that same attitude that same mentality um it’s

Another opportunity for us to to win a game

Dame Lillard speaks with media following the Bucks’ victory over the Nuggets.

SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/BucksYTSub

All-Access: Welcome to Milwaukee – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oXtBK6JXDE

All-Access: Tipoff – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oXtBK6JXDE

NBA Finals All-Access: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrkYUe261zvdsraTw4w6fHGs5qXqFl7p0

All-Access: Bucks Meet Neymar & Mbappe – https://youtu.be/eY_Pfgx6sDE

All-Access: Bucks Travel To Paris, Visit PSG & More – https://youtu.be/Wbmmn4D8Z8w

Get highlights on-demand, watch games LIVE and get full stats in our FREE app for iOS and Android. Download: http://Bucks.com/App

Connect with the Bucks

Facebook: http://facebook.com/bucks
Twitter: http://twitter.com/bucks
Instagram: http://instagram.com/bucks

#nba #milwaukeebucks #milwaukee #bucks #fearthedeer #greekfreak #giannis #damianlillard #dametime #414