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Fans Praise Return of ‘Playoff Dame’ After Masterful 35-point Half in Game 1 of Bucks vs. Pacers
His nickname is “Playoff Dame” for a reason.
Milwaukee Bucks’ Damian Lillard came to life in Game 1 of the first-round playoff series against the Indiana Pacers in Fiserv Forum.
The Bucks, who entered the game shorthanded without star Giannis Antetokounmpo, were lifted by the masterful shooting abilities of Lillard on Sunday night. In the first half alone, Lillard recorded 35 points, good for second-most in the first half of a playoff game since 1997. Only Kevin Durant scored more first-half points (38) in a 2019 playoff game against the Los Angeles Clippers.
In fact, Lillard nearly outscored the entire Pacers squad in those two quarters, as Indiana put up 42 points as a team. Lillard sank 6-of-10 threes while the Pacers went cold from beyond the arc, shooting 3-of-18 in the first half.
The NBA world rejoiced over the timely return of “Playoff Dame” and gave the eight-time All-Star his flowers.
Dame in the regular season vs Dame in the playoffs pic.twitter.com/JVeIRTsT1I
— Josiah Johnson (@KingJosiah54) April 22, 2024
Giannis and Thanasis watching Dame cook the Pacers pic.twitter.com/Kfe6YDTtdv
— Josiah Johnson (@KingJosiah54) April 22, 2024
Damian Lillard remembers pic.twitter.com/EYpdlxcEAx
— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) April 22, 2024
Dame is on one
— Josh Hart (@joshhart) April 22, 2024
We are watching a Master At Work!!! Stop that Dame. God Bless America
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) April 22, 2024
Yeah @Dame_Lillard is INSANE! The man is ELITE! Him & Ant the two I’m most excited to watch all playoffs!
— Jalen Ramsey (@jalenramsey) April 22, 2024
POP YO 💩 DAME!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/HflPXLJvV5
— Pat Bev Pod (@PatBevPod) April 22, 2024
We aint see Dame act like this since Portland. My dawg said "undermanned in the playoffs oh thats my jam turn that shit up"
— 🐿️✨America Is Musty✨🐿️ (@DragonflyJonez) April 22, 2024
How Dame doing the Pacers pic.twitter.com/DrrLXhgPRv
— Gilbert Arenas (@GilsArenaShow) April 22, 2024
Dame to this Pacers defense pic.twitter.com/eNv6TMkgck
— 🥤 (@34for2) April 21, 2024
Kristen Wong is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. She has been a sports journalist since 2020. Before joining SI in November 2023, Wong covered four NFL teams as an associate editor with the FanSided NFL Network and worked as a staff writer for the brand’s flagship site. Outside of work, she has dreams of running her own sporty dive bar.