Doc Rivers is off to an 0-2 start as coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, and Damian Lillard is 0-1 as a visiting player in Portland after the Blazers defeated the Bucks, 119-116, on Wednesday.
Despite another rough shooting night (9 of 23 overall, 3 of 13 from 3), Lillard, who received a long and loud standing ovation when he was introduced before going on to finish with 25 points, had a chance to make it all right with what could’ve been a storybook game-winner in the waning seconds.
But Malcolm Brogdon had other plans.
With 17.6 seconds left and the Bucks trailing by one, Lillard took the ball out on the side. It was obviously set up for him to get the ball right back on a handoff, which is what happened, and as Lillard pushed hard to his left, he wound up, for a brief instant, in a one-on-one situation with Deandre Ayton on the switch.
It couldn’t have been drawn up better. Lillard got into Ayton’s body, cleared space, and sprung back into what looked like it was going to be a wide-open 3 for a potential game-winner. But Brogdon instinctively, and wisely, abandoned Brook Lopez to sprint at Lillard from across the court and force the ball out of his hands.