After an abysmal start to the season, the Milwaukee Bucks have finally found their groove. They proved it tonight by solidifying their spot in the Emirates NBA Cup final with a dominant win against the Atlanta Hawks. But Damian Lillard is not happy. And it has nothing to do with himself or his teammates’ performance. In fact, it’s all because of two-time champion Kenny Smith!

Joining Inside The NBA for a postgame interview, Damian Lillard was informed by Ernie Johnson that The Jet competed in a free-throw shootout against Stephen A. Smith. Dame’s instant reaction was, “Please don’t tell me he lost to Stephen A.”

Well, believe it or not, Kenny did lose to the veteran analyst making only 1 of his five free throws while Stephen A. Smith drained 3 shots from the charity stripe! When Dame realized that Kenny got dominated by the ESPN vet, he had a disappointed look on his face.

Yes, the Rockets legend tried to justify his loss by saying that he was handicapped because he was shooting left-handed. While the former hoopster tried to justify that he’d use his right hand with three fingers next time, that, however, only seemed to disappoint Damian Lillard even more. “Why you do that? Why you use left hand?… Man, you never gonna hear the end of that. Come on, man.” Of course, Kenny cannot use it as an excuse because he was the one who claimed on Live TV, “I can beat him (Stephen A.) lefty.”

Sure enough, Dame could not believe that the former NBA champ lost to SAS, who’s a senior entity, but he’s still media personnel. “Hey, Kenny man. Nah. Nah. Nah. Nah. You gotta take em out man. No prisoners… That’s unfortunate, man.” Obviously, Damian Lillard’s disappointment was all in good fun because he was still ecstatic about the win against the Hawks.

Damian Lillard reflects on the Bucks’ amazing turnaround: “Who we truly are”

When the Bucks started the season 2-8, everyone was surprised and the Giannis trade rumors were back in the limelight. But they have turned things around and won twelve of their last fifteen encounters. After tonight’s semi-final win in Las Vegas, Damian Lillard reflected on his team’s recent performance, “I think right now we just showing who we truly are… We starting to build into the team that we saw ourselves being you know coming out of training camp. We just gotta keep building on that.”

Moreover, the vet hoopster also claimed that the Bucks have improved significantly on both offense and defense. Sure enough, it was evident tonight as Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo combined for 57 points and held their opponents to a low total. Now, they hope to carry this momentum to the final as the Milwaukee side pursues its first NBA Cup win. The addition of another piece of silverware will surely boost this team’s confidence and prepare them for the remainder of the season, which could get daunting, soon.