After a four-game absence in which the Milwaukee Bucks went 2-2, All-Star guard Damian Lillard returned to the floor on Saturday night in a 116-111 loss to the Chicago Bulls.

Although Lillard didn’t have the best shooting night, only hitting eight of his 19 shots, he still scored 29 points. He made 10 of 10 from the free throw line and added six rebounds and 12 assists.

“Physically I felt good, I wanted to move, but as the game went on you just felt a little weak and I didn’t play,” Lillard said. “Still a little nauseous, I feel it in my chest and I’m coughing a little, but I expected it to be like that when I got into the game because I haven’t played yet.”

“I tried to just throw myself out there. And then as the game went on I tried to become more and more confident.”

So smooth. pic.twitter.com/8RY0UgVGpT

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) December 29, 2024

Lillard found his best rhythm in the fourth quarter and got back into the game with the Bucks trailing 93-86 and 10:20 on the clock. When Bulls coach Billy Donovan called a timeout with 7:16 left, Milwaukee was leading 99-95 as Lillard had completely taken over the game.

In the Bucks’ 13-2 run, Lillard scored 11 straight points and drew five fouls against the Bulls, while Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers constantly had his point guard flying around screens, dribbling handoffs and making pick-and-rolls. As the Bulls defenders were aggressive on defense, Lillard continued to exploit defenders in compromised positions.

“I just noticed throughout the game how aggressive they were on the ball and trying to get through the screens,” Lillard said. “I always look at what trends I see between teams as the game progresses. Sometimes I try to do something right away. Sometimes I try to wait until the end of the game and manipulate something.

“And that was one of the things – just knowing that they were arguing so aggressively. So we’re just trying to make some free throws or at least commit the fouls so we can get into the shootout.”

Despite the illness, Lillard was so effective early in the fourth quarter that by the end of the game the Bulls were doing everything they could to get the ball out of his hands, regularly sending second and third defenders on Lillard to pressure him off the ball. And this plan worked.

Lillard took his final shot with 5:07 left. He also touched the ball late in the game and made plays for his teammates, but didn’t take a shot during the final period. Ultimately, the attention on Lillard produced good looks — Khris Middleton, who scored 21 points, missed two good looks on Springer in the final three minutes — but Lillard didn’t have a chance to make the game-winning shots.

“This has to be better,” Rivers said. “One thing I would say is that I need to be better at making sure Dame gets the ball into his hands as the game progresses.

“We drew two games to get him in the secondary (action) because they were overloaded and he never made it. We have to realize that we can give it to him, and I just have to give it to him and live with it.”

In the end, the Bucks weren’t good enough to get a win when Lillard returned, but seeing him on the field was a welcome sign for the team after his four-game absence.

Lillard missed two games due to a right calf strain he suffered in the Bucks’ 97-81 NBA Cup Final victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, but when his right calf injury disappeared, the 13-year-old year-old NBA veteran misses two more games due to illness.

Speaking publicly for the first time since his absence following the Bucks’ shootout at the United Center on Saturday, Lillard said this was not a situation in which a star player took a night off and the illness was not an excuse.

“I wish it was that, I’m telling you,” Lillard said. “I just told (my teammates) before, like I’ve never been so sick in my life.

“I didn’t throw up, nothing. I just didn’t eat anything for two days. I didn’t eat anything at all. I didn’t get up, nothing. I was downstairs. It was bad.”

After losing their first post-NBA Cup game in Cleveland without Lillard, the Bucks won two straight games without Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Antetokounmpo, Lillard’s running mate who forms the other half of the NBA’s top scoring duo this season, missed two games with back spasms before missing the Bucks’ 111-105 loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday due to a non-Covid illness Lillard missed.

Lillard hoped to play in Thursday’s game, but failed to complete practice confident enough to be on the floor against the Nets.

“A few days ago I tried to practice – the night before the Brooklyn game – because I was going to play against Brooklyn and the whole time I was practicing it made me cough, cough…,” Lillard said . “I got through the training but couldn’t breathe well. So that’s all I’ve been doing for the last few days. I’m just trying to get a handle on the whole thing and it’s still like I’m totally out of breath, but I think at some point you just have to go out there and burn it out. So that’s my plan.”

After the Bucks’ shootout Saturday morning, Lillard said he lost “a few pounds” from the illness, as he couldn’t eat for two days. He added that part of the reason he took the stage against Chicago was to try to get his conditioning back to the level he needs to compete every night.

The 34-year-old point guard said his right calf is fine and he’s not worried about the strain that initially forced him to the sidelines after the NBA Cup.

“It was a bit of a strain at first,” Lillard said. “I did it against Atlanta in Vegas. It happened against Atlanta. I just adjusted it in the championship game to make it look like I was going to miss that game and the one after that depending on when our next game was and how I was feeling.

“But we did it. We got it under control straight away and even when I tried to get back on the pitch it was a bit tight because I hadn’t moved, but it was fine. I had no problems.”

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(Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)