INDIANAPOLIS – Following Tuesday morning’s shootaround at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Milwaukee Bucks point guard Damian Lillard sat in a courtside seat and answered the question on everybody’s mind.
“Yeah, I’m playing,” Lillard said when asked if he expected to play in Game 2 of the Bucks’ first-round series against the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday.
Lillard’s return will be his first game since the Bucks’ 104-93 loss to the Golden State Warriors on March 18. Six days after that loss, doctors diagnosed the 34-year-old with a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) blood clot in his right calf in late March, and Lillard missed the last 14 games of the regular season.
On April 17, the Bucks announced Lillard was cleared of the blood clot in his right calf, adding he was no longer taking the blood-thinning medication that allowed him to clear the blood clot. While Lillard was allowed to return to practice on April 19 before the playoffs got underway, he still missed Game 1 of this first-round series.
With two days off between Games 1 and 2, the Bucks flew back to Milwaukee immediately after their 117-98 loss in Game 1. Those extra days allowed Lillard to spend more time on the practice court at the Bucks’ practice facility in Milwaukee.
“It was helpful,” Lillard said. “The day after Game 1, I was able to play a lot, get up and down. (Sunday) was actually my first time going full court…and then yesterday, I was able to get a couple more in and felt a little better then.
“And that’s when I was just like, there’s not going to be a moment where I’m just like, ‘All right. I’m just absolutely ready for a game.’ You just gotta go out there and do what you gotta do and you gotta deal with the results. And you just gotta find a baseline to build from and that’s what I’m going to do.”
The extended absence has been unusual for Lillard, as his previous in-season absences were typically due to injuries that ended his season, as opposed to a month without being able to play basketball before returning.
“I’ve never not played for over a month and then played again,” Lillard said. “It was always like the end of the season, and I just didn’t play again. So, not knowing if I was able to come back this season, I was only able to lift, which was good because I was able to keep my body strong. But it was weeks and weeks and weeks before they even allowed me to jump and do stuff on the court.”
For Lillard, preparing to return required significant cardio work off the court and then a slow progression of on-court work with the team as they prepared for their series against the Pacers.
“I think maybe Tuesday, Monday, I was able to get back on the court and start doing stuff other than biking and swimming and stuff like that to have some type of cardio,” Lillard said. “So I just wanted to get up and down the court a little more and do some bumping, get over some screens, and just let my body get used to it so I don’t get out there and hurt myself after not being out there for so long.
“I don’t think it’s ever going to be perfect when you miss that much time and then you’re kind of back into an intense environment, but you gotta break yourself in somewhere, and I just know that it’s not going to be a perfect time for it. I gotta go out and break myself in, and I think that’s just better to do early in a series than later before it’s possibly too late.”
Lillard told reporters that he doesn’t necessarily have any restrictions in his return as the Bucks try to tie the series in Indianapolis on Tuesday night, but he will be wearing a sleeve on his right leg and keeping in constant communication with head coach Doc Rivers about how he feels.
“Honestly, it’s really just how I feel,” Lillard said. “I’m going to be communicating to Doc how I’m feeling. It’s no real way to simulate being in an NBA game, let alone a playoff game, so I’m really just going in with intentions to be out there with the team and I’m going to give everything that I got. I’ll just build from there.”
In the immediate aftermath of the diagnosis, Lillard was not taking flights as a precaution with the blood clot, but he told reporters on Tuesday that flying is no longer a concern. He said he would not risk his safety and health if traveling were still a potential problem.
On the court, the Bucks need to bounce back from a disheartening Game 1 effort in Indianapolis. Without Lillard, the Bucks have relied almost entirely on Giannis Antetokounmpo to score and create for the starting lineup. While the team excelled with Antetokounmpo in that role to close the regular season, the Bucks’ starting unit struggled offensively on Saturday.
Antetokounmpo scored 36 points on 14-of-23 shooting, but the team’s other four starters combined for 14 points, with Kyle Kuzma and Taurean Prince going scoreless in 20-plus minutes on the floor.
Lillard is a nine-time All-Star capable of putting up huge numbers and reducing Antetokounmpo’s workload, but he admitted he expects the Bucks to play very similarly offensively in Game 2, even if he believes they will make adjustments as he gets back into a rhythm.
“I mean, I’m not going to be like, ‘All right, we’re going to change everything,’” Lillard said. “Obviously, me being on this team, I bring something different to this team. I think on one side, you don’t want to take that away from the team, but also, like you said, I’ve missed some time.
“So it’s going to take some time to get your legs under you and find some rhythm and timing, so I think it makes sense to just continue (doing that). Giannis has been great handling (the ball) and attacking and facilitating, and just sitting back and watching the game, I think it will work. It will work just fine if he plays that way and I’m more off the ball to start.”
Tuesday’s game will be the first time Antetokounmpo and Lillard share the floor for a playoff game with the Bucks.
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle commented on Lillard’s possible return Tuesday morning, hours before it became official.
“We have experience playing against him … both during the season and last year in the playoffs,” Carlisle told 107.5 The Fan. “We’re familiar with his greatness and all the things that he does to make a game very difficult for the opponent. … It sounds like he’s gonna be playing at some point, and it certainly could be tonight, and we can’t be surprised if he does.”
(Photo: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)
