MILWAUKEE (AP) 鈥� Damian Lillard has dealt with all kinds of injuries through his 13 seasons in the NBA, but he鈥檇 never had to worry about recovering from a concussion before.
His return from put the Milwaukee Bucks guard in a much more familiar situation.
Lillard came back after missing three games and made a with 3.9 seconds left in the Bucks鈥� over Houston that snapped the Rockets' five-game winning streak Monday.
鈥淭hat was actually my first time in my life just getting a concussion,鈥� Lillard said after the game. 鈥淚鈥檝e played football. I box all the time. I鈥檝e been in some situations where you would expect I鈥檇 have had a concussion before, but first time.
鈥淯sually when something is wrong with me, I feel I can will myself through it and I鈥檓 all right. This was probably one of the first times in my life and definitely in my NBA career where I was like, 鈥楽omething is off.鈥� It was a little frustrating because I didn鈥檛 have a choice but to go through the process. I just had to acknowledge the way I was feeling, and I knew I wasn鈥檛 all the way right.鈥�
Lillard had an up-and-down performance in his return. He compiled 18 points and 10 assists, but missed all six of his 3-point attempts and couldn鈥檛 convert some contested layups he normally hits.
But when the game was on the line, Lillard delivered, as he has done throughout his career.
鈥淚 think he鈥檚 one of the best to ever do it 鈥� like finishing the game,鈥� Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo said.
Lillard鈥檚 closing ability had Bucks coach Doc Rivers drawing comparisons to one of the game鈥檚 greatest shooters ever.
鈥淒ame just has great courage, you know?鈥� Rivers said. 鈥淩eminds me a lot of Ray Allen in that way. Ray didn鈥檛 have a lot of bad shooting nights, but when he had one, if you had one shot to make, you still wanted to go to him. And that鈥檚 how you feel about Dame. Like, whether he鈥檚 on fire or not, he just has this thing in him that he believes that he should take the last shot and make the last shot. And he does it over and over.鈥�
The Bucks trailed 100-99 when Lillard had the ball in his hands in the closing seconds. He drove into the lane, split two defenders and made the driving layup that put Milwaukee ahead for good.
鈥淚 could feel it was one of those games where I needed to keep going, keep my foot on the gas down the stretch,鈥� Lillard said. 鈥淚t just came down to those last two plays. I got one to go and we were able to get a stop on the other end.鈥�
It was the type of moment that Lillard so badly wanted to deliver during his difficult week working to get back on the floor.
鈥淚 tried to really speed my way through the protocols so I could get back,鈥� Lillard said. 鈥淚 think it ended up kind of working against me. I did a 30-minute bike ride, 30-minute treadmill, 30 minutes on the court all in one day just to try to see how I felt. I saw that I wasn鈥檛 right. And then from there, I was doing 45-minute workouts on the court, just trying to do that fast-paced, less breaks, stuff like that just to push myself to try to make up for not being on the floor.鈥�
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AP NBA:
Steve Megargee, The Associated Press
