“Damian Lillard in 5”: 1x All-Star Shares His Bold Prediction for Giannis Antetokounmpo-Less Milwaukee Bucks

The Milwaukee Bucks are set to start their playoff campaign against the Indiana Pacers tonight at Fiserv Forum. The round one clash is expected to be tougher on the Bucks as they will be without their superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo. However, former NBA star Jeff Teague believes that the Bucks are more than equipped, with Damian Lillard at the helm of things, to beat the Pacers.

On the recent episode of the Club 520 Podcast, Teague was asked to pick his favorite between the two teams. The 2015 NBA All-Star said that he will be going with the Bucks since “none of the Pacers want to give us an interview.” Even though he started off with a joke, Teague later admitted that he truly believes that Milwaukee will be a superior team in the series. He said, “Dame in five…Yeah, the Pacers are gonna only win one game…They probably win like game three on a high.”

Teague seemed to believe that the absence of Giannis makes the Pacers-Bucks series a head-to-head matchup between Tyrese Haliburton and Damian Lillard. Hence, Teague had no problems picking Dame over an inexperienced Haliburton.

If all that wasn’t enough, Teague brought Drake and Lil Yachty into the mix. The 35-year-old said, “In the playoffs, Dame is like the Jumbotron version with Drake and Tyrese is gonna be the one with Yachty.” It’s pretty self-explanatory why this comparison is disrespectful towards Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers.

Teague alluded that Dame would prove himself as the bigger player who can show up in big occasions and make it look easy. Whereas Tyrese, the Lil Yachty in this equation, is good at what he does, but often gets dwarfed by the stature and impact of someone like Drake. Now, whether the Bucks will be able to live up to these expectations, only time will tell. The good news is that Lillard is feeling really good about their chances.

Damian Lillard sounds prepared for the Pacers challenge

While a lot of fans are concerned about the Giannis situation, Dame seems to be unbothered by it. He understands that in the absence of his Freak Time duo, he will have to do the heavy lifting for the team. While speaking to the reporters earlier this week, he said, “I feel good about it. I think the one thing about the playoffs, especially this season, everybody can beat everybody. That’s really how I feel about it.”

Dame also acknowledged the fact that the Pacers are a strong team and beating them isn’t going to be easy. He said, “They score a lot of points. There’s only a few teams that score over 120, we one of ’em and they one of ’em.” After all the talk, it’ll come down to the Bucks and their game plan, which unfortunately hasn’t been the best in the past few months.