The much-awaited season opener for the Milwaukee Bucks was tonight against the Philadelphia 76ers. While the locker room was filled with all kinds of ?James Harden? controversies, it was brave for the Bucks to keep their calm and deal with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey for the night.

With a final score of 118-117, it was a marginal win, but the new trade of Damian Lillard seems to be working for the franchise. Giannis and Lillard make a dreadful duo to deal with on the court, and tonight?s match was just a small glimpse of this partnership.

Giannis Antetokounmpo on Damian Lillard After Bucks vs 76ers

With the Jrue Holiday trade and after acquiring Damian Lillard, there were speculations that the Bucks had a week on defense. After all, Jrue Holiday was the perennial All-Team all-defense player. However, after tonight’s match, Damian Lillard has made a name for himself.

Scoring a whopping 39 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists in just 37 minutes on the hardwood is a career-high for the guard. While Giannis crossed Abdul-Jabbar’s franchise record of 5,902 field goals, the Bucks won by a single-point margin.

Giannis Antetokounmpo and his assist on the three-point jump shot in the fourth quarter were the highlights of the day. In a post-match introduction, when asked about how he feels about that assist to Dame, Giannis sounded confident about D?Lo and his shooting abilities.?

Giannis said, ?That?s trust, you know. He?s got to build that trust, you know. He has to know that whenever he has the hard hand down the stretch, we are going to find him and we are going to give him the ball.”

Well, that?s the kind of partnership we are looking at with Giannis on the team.

Damian Lillard: Star Player of the Milwaukee Bucks?

With 17 consecutive free throws in a single game, Lillard put on a show of his own. Not only that, the combined score of the two highlight players was 64 points while shooting 19-42 from the field.

While other teams were looking for loopholes to counter the duo’s pick and roll displayed in the first three matches in the preseason, Damian turned the game around with his consecutive free throws. Not Damian alone, but a five-man bench also aided in the ultimate win.

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With the first performance of the regular season, there’s less regret for the Jrue Holiday trade among Milwaukee fans. With the next faceoff against the Atlanta Hawks on the night of October 29, the franchise is up for another show.

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Stay tuned for a deeper performance analysis.