Bucks' Damian Lillard Makes Bold Statement Regarding NBA Cup Chances

The Bucks superstar guard is determined to be the last team standing.

December 13, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard (0) addresses the media in a press conference during practice prior to the Emirates NBA Cup semi-finals at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

Who would have thought the Milwaukee Bucks would be in the 2024 Emirates NBA Cup semi-final after their sluggish start to the season? 

The Bucks are back on track after starting the season 2-8. Their superstars lead them, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, who are playing at an MVP/All-NBA caliber level. These two have been playing out of their mind and are why the Bucks have a chance to win their first NBA Cup. 

The Bucks were in the same spot last year but fell to the red-hot Indiana Pacers. This year, they'll look to take down the Atlanta Hawks. There is no reason why the Bucks shouldn't be the last team standing, and they are taking it seriously—just ask Lillard, who is determined they will be the last team standing. 

"We wanna be the last team standing" 👀

Damian Lillard talks about how the #EmiratesNBACup can help lift a team for the rest of the season.

🏆 ATL/MIL, Saturday, 4:30pm/et, TNT 🏆 pic.twitter.com/w0JA9DOHT9

— NBA (@NBA) December 13, 2024

Lillard also said that this is a chance for the Bucks to test themselves in a playoff-like atmosphere. 

"We've gotten ourselves going in the right direction," Lillard said, per Jamal Collier of ESPN. "We've been able to win a lot of games lately, and this is just another opportunity for us to continue that, but with more on the line and with us to get even more momentum from an experience like this."

Since the Bucks' 2-8 start, they have won 11 of their last 14 games. Lillard isn't the only one evoking that mindset; so is Antetokounmpo, who is still upset about last year's semi-final loss.

"We were playing very, very bad basketball at the beginning of the year, and we just needed to win games," Antetokounmpo said at media day Friday. "We were just trying to turn the season around for us. We were bad. Now we've been competing, we've been playing better, guys are together, and we've had a great stretch. We've just got to keep it going."

The Bucks are unquestionably the oldest team of the four left in Vegas, and head coach Doc Rivers hopes they can use that to their advantage in some way, shape, or form. 

"Every year your team's on a different journey," Rivers said. "Mixing those two groups together and seeing how we react is a good thing. It's a great teacher. I'll learn something through this. I just don't know what it is. Every team will get something out of this that will help them moving forward."

The Bucks are on a roll, but so are the Hawks, who sit with a 5-0 record in NBA Cup play and have won seven of their last eight games.

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