It’s back to work – the regular NBA schedule – for teams and players this week. The All-Star Weekend has come and gone, and it was a really nice show. For the guy crowned MVP of the All-Star game itself, the award also came with some advice from our man Shaq.
Damian Lillard was the big MVP winner. He put on quite the show, scoring 39 during his playing minutes…and he had a very good showing at the 3-point shooting contest as well. During the game itself, he even made a couple of half-court shots!
If you didn’t see the game, it was an absolute scoring-fest. There might have been some defense in there, but we didn’t see much. Team Yannis won it by the amazing score of 184-174. It was the first time in All-Star history that a team scored more than 100 points… in the first half!
After the game, “Dame” Lillard chatted with the TNT “Inside the NBA” crew. While there were compliments all around, Shaq had a little bit of “tough love” to share with Lillard, who just this season moved from the Portland Trail Blazers to his new team, the Milwaukee Bucks.
The BIG Podcast with SHAQ
Now that he’s with the Bucks, Lillard joins superstar big man Giannis Antetokounmpo. With that pairing, you know there’s going to be talk of another world-class pairing… that being O’Neal himself, along with Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant.
No one is expecting Kobe-and-Shaq performances just yet. Lillard is just finding his place with the Bucks and Giannis. Those Bucks are currently – as of this writing – in third place in the East, with the second half yet to go.
As for the comparisons with the Lakers pairing that won those Championships, Lillard said it’s a work in progress: “It is a great pairing,” he said. “It takes time for things to develop and become what everybody wants to see it become on the first day. They want it to be that right away. With me and Giannis he’s a strong-minded dude I’m a strong-minded dude.”
Lillard says it’s going to take more time and work to properly combine his skills with the Greek Freak: “He’s played his career like it’s been a certain way. My career has been a certain way. So I think you know it takes time for that to come together and for you to figure it out. But I think how great we could be is still showing because we’ve been able to win so many games throughout the process.”
Shaq wasn’t really impressed with all that, saying, “You and Giannis, you’re being too nice.” Not sure what that exactly means, but the team’s record speaks to it. The Bucks are not exactly playing like a championship-caliber team lately. The team fired first-year head coach Adrian Griffin with the Bucks at 30-13 last month. Management brought in Doc Rivers, a coach with over 1,000 wins and an NBA championship on his résumé.
Even after Rivers’ arrival, the team has been slow turning things around. Shaq took note of that, too. “When it’s all said and done and it don’t work out three people are going to get blamed: Doc, you and Giannis,” O’Neal said. “You and Giannis got to make sure the troops get it done. There’s no reason with Doc being there you all should be 3-7.”
Will Lillard and Giannis get it together in time to make a strong playoff run? Hard to tell just yet. There’s plenty of work to be done. We’ll see if Shaq’s advice to come on even stronger makes a difference.