By CNN
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Damian Lillard scored a game-high 41 points to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to an impressive 113-106 comeback victory over the Los Angeles Clippers and extend the team’s winning run.
Playing without franchise star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was nursing Achilles tendonitis in only his third missed game of the season, the Bucks overturned a 15-point second-half deficit and have now won six straight since the All-Star Break after the team’s early struggles under new head coach Doc Rivers.
“It just shows who we’re becoming,” Lillard said, per ESPN. “Nobody talked about who wasn’t playing before the game … that just shows what’s expected, the standard that we’re starting to have, and who we’re becoming as a team.
“We just trusted each other. Defensively, we’ve trusted our communication. We’ve depended on the next guy to do his job, and the same offensively.
“Because our team is seeing the results that we’re getting from playing that way, even when it’s not going our way at points in the game, we trust it. It’s just coming back in our favor.”
Lillard’s 41 points came on an efficient 12-of-22 shooting, including four three pointers, to go with four rebounds and four assists, while Bobby Portis added 28 points and 16 rebounds.
The Bucks may have to continue coping without Antetokounmpo as the team begins a four-game road trip in the Bay Area against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday, with Rivers telling reporters after the game that he was unsure whether the eight-time All-Star would recover in time.
“It’s been on and off the last two or three games,” Rivers said of the injury, per ESPN. “This morning, he actually looked good … we’ll just figure it out from there.”
For the Clippers, James Harden scored 29 points to go with eight assists and four rebounds, while Paul George registered 29 points and five rebounds.
It was a tough night for Kawhi Leonard, however, who notched just 16 points on 6-of-19 shooting.
The victory moves the Bucks back into second place in the Eastern Conference, while the Clippers stay as the fourth seed in the West after a third defeat in five games.
