The Giannis-Damian Lillard duo ‘HAS NOT GONE GREAT!’ – Brian Windhorst on the new Bucks | First Take

The Giannis-Damian Lillard duo ‘HAS NOT GONE GREAT!’ – Brian Windhorst on the new Bucks | First Take

Yano says the Bucks are Damen Lillard’s team quote I his biggest fan good or bad I ride with Dame until the end I ride with Dame like I’ve been saying this over and over again this is his team down the stretch he’s going to get the ball there’s nothing else that we will

Do I don’t know how else to put it I don’t know what else to say but at the end of the day he has to believe it too okay I feel like there’s a lot to unpack here Tim yeah uh and I feel like there there there’s a

Lot in here break it down for me well look first of all I I think that Giannis is being sincere he would like that in a perfect world for that to be the case like Dame to be that guy Dame to believe he’s that guy kind of similar if you

Think about to what the Lakers went through down in the bubble LeBron genuinely gave control in the Reigns to Anthony Davis because he knew that he needed him to be that for them to win it and they did and he genuinely accepted that I think Giannis believes it the

Problem is I’m not sure that Damen Lillard has felt comfortable thinking of himself that way since he got there and and this has got to be a strange thing for Damen Lillard it’s the first time I’m sure in his life he’s not the best player on his own team so you think

About you know his entire career and everything he did in Portland and we he was scrutinized and we looked at him a certain way but we also knew he was never on a team good enough to really win it he goes to Milwaukee and and right off the bat immediately

Expectations are Championship right now you’re paired with theant Tuma and by the way you’re not the best player on the team so let’s see what that feels like when you’re playing and when I watch them play I don’t get yet that they have figured out the perfect flow

Between the two of them on the court so Giannis is doing everything he can to empower Damen Lillard but the problem is Giannis cast such a long shadow that I think Damen Lillard still understands that he’s in that shadow now late game that’s different yeah Damen Lillard is

Gonna have the ball a lot because he’s delivered you know and he’s a better option A lot of times in running ball screen with Damen lard the ball in his hands he’s 90 plus from the line he’s a deep three-point threat if that’s what

It takes so I get all of that but to say that it’s Dame’s team is taking it too far this is giannis’s team and the best they can hope for Wendy I think let’s figure out a way to max out how we coexist and we do this together and

There are going to be stretches in games when it feels like it’s Lillard’s show but it really isn’t it’s ultimately Giannis that gets it done I think he’s trying to mentally convince Damen Lillard of something that so far to me and what I’ve observed is not coming

Easy to him playing alongside a guy like Giannis and feeling that empowered to play that way all the time and I think that’s what Giannis is alluding to because he thinks that’s the best path for them to win a title because jannis knows he’s going to affect the game in

Every single way across the board you know defense rebounding playmaking whatever it takes and he’ll always put up big scoring numbers Lillard it’s really going to be judged in one way are you putting up numbers are you doing it efficient efficiently and are you making shots

That are timely when we have to have them that is what’s on Damen Lillard’s plate really only and that’s what Giannis is trying to convince him of and Empower him to do and I don’t think it’s come very easy to Damen Lillard so far Wendy these are are good comments

Because they indicate that Giannis is words that he’s dedicated to it but the truth is is that their pairing on the court has not gone great and I don’t think it’s a personality conflict I just think that it you know it’s a unfamiliar place it’s it’s not something either of

Them are have uh have done before and it just hasn’t really borne fruit yet that doesn’t mean that it won’t by the spring it doesn’t mean that it can’t um but that idea of them being a great pick and roll team it hasn’t happened it’s not something that had the instantaneous

Chemistry that I think a lot of people thought I mean I know Yannis thought it because he did it with his actions he went and signed the contract days after Dame got there he believed in it like that to me actions over words he does

Believe in it and I’ll also say this I don’t think that it all has to be on this season if it doesn’t work this year and they don’t hit their absolute height if they’re showing potential they can come back Dame is not 39 years old like LeBron Dame has years left Giannis has

Signed there for years the team probably needs a little bit of work they’re in the middle of all kinds of coaching changes and stuff like that but I do think that they need to have progress between now and the end of the season season and one of the other things is

Dame’s been in a pretty big slump if you go back and look since the first of the year he’s shooting barely over 30% on threes his catch and shoot numbers not that that’s what he is as a catch and shoot player his catch and shoot numbers are down near 25% on threes his

Dominance dominance in stretching the floor has just not been there he’s frankly having the worst shooting season he’s had in a decade if you take out that year two years ago where he was playing through the sports Hern and had to at midseason had to just stop and go

Get surgery he was having a miserable year that year if you take that out he’s not shooting or scoring or doing anything like he did before so um I think giannis’s sentiments are appreciated and ultimately could could could yield to good things here but that is not what we are seeing necessarily

Take place on the floor well before we move on here real quick I just want to ask you that in terms of him being in a slump what are you attributing that to Dame not making shots you know he’s just you know I I I do think the ball is not in

His hands as much even though I know Giannis says he wants the ball in his hands and look Molly we may get to April and May and we may see playoff games where this works brilliantly where it’s a tie game with four minutes to go and Dame makes three shots down the stretch

And Giannis makes one and they are in the postgame press conference with their arms around each other going this is what our vision was that is absolutely still on the table but right now Dame is not shooting the ball great and not feeling obviously a great flow the Bucks

Are underachieving and that’s just the truth of it that again doesn’t mean that it won’t work but those comments from Giannis are one thing the actual production on the court has been another listen here’s one thing I will say Wendy I agree with you about certain teams

Matchup wise with the Lakers being a little bit of a problem what’s going to be very interesting and this will this will just further this discussion with the lers if they get to an Oklahoma City or a Minnesota in the first round a lot of people are going to make the Lakers

Favorites in that series and it’s mainly because not because those aren’t good teams and particularly Minnesota because they’re big and they defend really well it’s because of the lack of collective playoff success that those two teams have and now you’re going to take on a Lakers team U with what they have and

What they represent in LeBron James so that would get interesting because maybe they get through that round but I think that’s where it would stop for me because that’s when now you run into a Clippers team potentially or you run into a nuggets team in the next round

And I think that’s where the run will end for the Lakers they’re going to be brought up week after week after week particularly if they keep winning games the way they are right now and they’re and they’re playing well as we head into the break they’re going to be a topic of

Discussion I just look at them relative to what they are going to have to do and who they’re going to have to play at full strength and I I think this is going to end after the first round they’re always going to be a topic of

Discussion but I find that other team in La a little more interesting the Clippers and same with the buck in Boston which we’ll get into later segments in the show uh before we move on from the Lakers guys though I want to ask you this legs is LeBron the I mean

They made a run last season right they ended up making a run last season in the playoffs is LeBron the most important player for that to happen or or who would we be focusing in on he is for me and here’s why you know when you look at

All the teams and we’ve talked about a number of them in the Western Conference somebody’s going to have to match or outplay the best player on those teams that’s going to be LeBron James because he is still capable of being able to do that LeBron James is about control and

And to me that’s where this becomes you know the question about this team what’s most important Anthony Davis you know when he plays well that’s always been the thing when Anthony Davis plays well Lakers are tough to beat I I agree but LeBron James is the one in control even

When Anthony Davis is playing well so for me it’s always going to be about LeBron James and if LeBron James is very good it’s not going to be good enough he has to be great when you go up in these series against these these top stars of these other teams whether that’s Kevin

Durant or that’s a Luca or that’s a joic or Shay or whoever it may be it’s going to fall in LeBron James that’s the guy that we’re going to expect to be able to raise his level of play to go toe-to-toe with those best players and then you

Hope Anthony Davis is better than the second star on those teams or D’Angelo Russell has a very good series but to me it starts with LeBron because of the extent to which he controls the game and controls the pace of play that is why he’s the most important player still on

The Lakers and will continue to B as long as he’s on the court Wendy everything that legs just said makes sense but I’m afraid that it’s not really the answer and the answer is why the Lakers have indigestion and why Lebron was looking for an upgrade at the

Trade deadline I’m afraid that the answer to this question is D’Angelo Russell because for the most part LeBron and Anthony Davis have been constants this year now LeBron’s been bothered a little bit by this ankle injury and has missed some games recently but ad has been there almost every night LeBron’s

Missed a few games but no big stretch of time they have been there delivering but they were there delivering and the Lakers were playing below 500 basketball the T the reason the Lakers have played so much better over the last month has been D’Angelo Russell when he was moved

Back into the starting lineup about a month ago due to uh injuries he has played some of the best basketball of the last three or four years he’s averaging 26 points and six assists over the last um 15 games the Lakers offense has exploded they were in the bottom uh

You know 10 or 12 in offense for the big part of the first half of the Season these last few weeks they’ve played some of their best offense that they’ve played literally in four decades you think I’m joking I’m not joking the last 11 games I said this last week Stephen A

Almost fell out of his chair they are playing Showtime level Lakers uh offense and it’s really tied to D’angelo Russell it’s not that LeBron and AD haven’t been doing it LeBron and AD are gonna show up and play they’re gonna deliver but they just can’t score legs this team just

Doesn’t have enough offensive talent to to to not have that third option and it’s all you know there’s other things going on too haimura has gotten healthy and has moved in the starting lineup Austin Reeves has found his comfort Level Playing alongside D’Angelo Russell there’s other stuff going on but really

It’s been Russell getting hot and the reason that gives the Lakers so much um you know anxiety is that he is known in his career for running hot and cold hot and cold hot and cold hot and cold he could easily go right back into a cold streak and the Lakers could get

Dragged down with it so if you’re hoping for a Lakers run if you’re hoping they can get into that top six which is still possible on their on their plate d’angel Russell’s got to stay hot and I’m sorry to say it but he’s probably the most important Laker going forward I I love

The take and I think looks the supplemental offense and where’s that going to come from we can say the same thing about some of these other teams that have multiple Stars you that guy in that third slot that four slot right how are they going to shoot the ball how are

They going to play because you know in a playoff series more attention is directed at the stars you have a game by game adjustment made by your opponent and figuring out ways to Blitz guys and trap guys and get the ball out of their hands so there are more opportunities

Actually as you go deeper into a series for those guys slotted three four and five on any of these rosters I just think it’s it’s kind of ironic that we’re talking about the Lakers and saying all these things that like have to happen and have to go right for them

And that’s exactly my point why I just don’t think all of those things are going to line up when you have to get to a certain number every night against some of these teams and and and what they represent offensively on a given night I don’t know that the Lakers can

Match that at their best in a seven game series yeah and I’m with you Wy I don’t feel like this is LeBron’s Last Stand but what would be interesting to me if it was his last stand alongside his son which I know he would ultimately love to see happen that’d be pretty Epic

He

The Giannis-Damian Lillard duo ‘HAS NOT GONE GREAT!’ – Brian Windhorst on the new Bucks | First Take

On First Take, Brian Windhorst and Tim Legler join Molly Qerim to discuss the Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard pairing, along with how LeBron James will impact the Lakers’ postseason success.

0:00 Giannis’ comments on Damian Lillard
5:22 Lillard’s shooting slump
7:35 LeBron’s importance for postseason run

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