It is some coincidence that the 5th seed of the two conferences — Bucks and Clippers — has the best back-to-back wins (7). But the East seemed sorted than the tight West, still the Milwaukee Bucks stood on business against the Pistons on Friday night. All Eastern Conference seeds were finalized as the Bucks beat the Pistons, 125-119. Giannis Antetokounmpo shined, scoring 32 points to go with his 15 assists and 11 rebounds, completing a spectacular 11th triple-double this season. This is the career-high triple-double count for the Greek Freak in a single season. A major reason for their success has been their brilliant form recently, which they’ve achieved despite being shorthanded. Unfortunately, the Bucks have been playing without their other superstar, Damian Lillard. He’s out with a blood clot problem and 13 straight games so far. So, who is Antetokounmpo relying on?

Despite Lillard’s absence, the Bucks have played some of the best basketball they’ve played all season. But this does not imply that they are a better team without Lillard. However, they’ve coped well without their starting point guard. This victory last night was the seventh game that Milwaukee has won in a row. That’s quite impressive, to say the least. While Giannis Antetokounmpo has been the star of the show in most of the wins, his teammates have helped him big time. Especially his new trusted confidant since Lillard’s injury. After the Pistons game, Milwaukee’s head coach, Doc Rivers, shed some light on their current form and Giannis’s new trusted teammate.

The Bucks HC was full of praise for his players, and rightly so, given how well they have been performing over the past weeks. “We have found ourselves, and we’re playing terrific basketball, we’re playing together.” Rivers stated. “Giannis is trusting all his teammates; he and Scoot (Kevin Porter Jr.) are starting to really have some chemistry together. So we’re doing a lot of things; there were so many individual great efforts. You know, Cuz didn’t play down the stretch, but I thought defensively the third quarter he had an incredible defensive stretch on Cunningham and I thought that was huge as well.” While Lillard’s absence is hard to fill, Scoot has managed to complement Antetokounmpo lately, a big sign of relief for Rivers before they step into the big stage.

Moreover, he credits Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Porter Jr.’s solid partnership for their recent resurgence. This duo has massively helped the team rally to a seven-game streak in which they’ve averaged 123.1 points per game. While it’s still the early days of this partnership, it has been going well. Meanwhile, the team is still trying out different things without their star point guard. Despite that, it’s great to see those team members hold up despite missing a key player. At the same time, despite being on the sidelines, Damian Lillard has made an honest confession about Milwaukee’s playoff dreams this season.

Damian Lillard expresses his thoughts on Milwaukee’s playoff aspirations

Milwaukee’s recent win has confirmed that they’ll be locking horns with a familiar foe in the first round. Who? Well, the Milwaukee Bucks will be facing the Indiana Pacers in the first round just a year after Tyrese Haliburton and Co. defeated them in the opening series. While last year Milwaukee had the prestigious home court advantage, this time it will be the Pacers who will host them at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse. However, there’s one advantage that will massively benefit the Bucks. What could that be? Yes, guessed right, two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo is available for this clash. Last time around, the Greek Freak missed the series due to a calf strain, but this time, he’s as healthy as ever.

However, not all is good. Their star guard, Damian Lillard, might not be available for the series. There have been some updates on Lillard’s fitness, but it’s still highly unlikely we’ll see him on the court for the first few games, at least. He knows how vital his fitness will be for Milwaukee, and he admitted the same during a recent interview. “I think the number one thing is we just got to be healthy. Like even last year, you know people talked a lot about us not looking how they wanted us to look or how they expected us to look, but if we would have been healthy, I still would have gone into the playoffs. Like we can put it together and win.” Damian said on ‘Eye for the Game with Austin Rivers.‘ Lillard’s fitness is going to play a massive role in how far the Bucks can go this season; there’s no doubt about it.

Moreover, he spoke about his relationship with Bucks’ number 34 and how they’ve grown over the past season playing alongside each other. “I know how to play the game. He knows how to play the game. But I think it’s a matter of trust, like he wants to be dominant and do what he does, I want to be dominant and do what I do, but we got to trust that we both want that for each other, you know so so we can coexist.” He believes that it was only a matter of trust before they started to get along. That has been firmly established now, and they’ve understood how to coexist and put the team ahead of everything else. Also, it’s not the case of how they win, but they need to be okay with however the team wins. It remains to be seen whether the Bucks can make a deep run in the playoffs, but if Lillard is back, they’ll certainly be a force to reckon with.