And Damian Lillard flew away. The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Sacramento Kings, 143-142, in overtime thanks to a final exploit by the American point guard. With Giannis Antetokounmpo's teammates trailing by two with just 5 seconds left, the number 0 picked up the ball before attempting an impressive long-range shot.
For a second, the Fiserv Forum - the home of the Bucks - stopped before exploding as the basket went in. On the court, Lillard, accustomed to this kind of feat, pointed to his wrist, just to say that nothing is ever over with him. Coincidentally, it was also the 2,500th career shot of the 33-year-old's career, the fifth-highest total in history.
DAME TIME IN MILWAUKEE! !️
🤯DAME LILLARD DRILLS THE PULL-UP 32-FOOT #TissotBuzzerBeater
🚨BUCKS WIN 143-142 IN OT. #YourTimeDefinesYourGreatness pic.twitter.com/BptPMrcjcI
— NBA (@NBA) January 15, 2024
Before this last play, the man who had arrived with great fanfare from Milwaukee last September had already planted a nice statistical line (29 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists on 9 of 23 shooting, in total) despite a lack of skill, in the wake of the triple double of the Greek Antetokounmpo (27 pts, 10 rebounds, 10 assists).
DAMIAN LILLARD FOR THE WIN AT THE BUZZER! pic.twitter.com/VKTFal8Dxo
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) January 15, 2024
In the other games of the night, Portland lost to Phoenix (116-127) despite a good Rayan Rupert (11 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists). For his part, Rudy Gobert impressed again with a very big double-double (15 points, 18 rebounds) in the Minnesota Timberwolves' victory against the Los Angeles Clippers (109-105).