The good and the bad of the historic season by Giannis and Damian Lillard 

We knew they would eventually get to this point. Giannis and Damian Lillard are too good not to terrorize opponents on the offensive end. At the halfway mark of the season, we have enough sample size to say they are on the verge of making history. 

Giannis is averaging 31.5 points per game, and Damian averages 25 points per game. It’s rare for a team to contain two players that average 30 points and 25 points per contest. At this point, only four other teammates have been to do it. Oscar Robertson and Jack Twyman were the first to do it. Jerry West and Elgin Baylor did it three times. Shaq and Kobe did it once in the 2002-03 season. The last pair of teammates to accomplish this feat was James Harden and Russell Westbrook in the 2019-20 season. 

However, there is a downside to this exclusive list. None of the teams ended up winning a championship. In all six cases, they racked up all those points out of necessity. They were compensating for their team’s lack of depth. The same can be said about the Milwaukee Bucks. Their starting lineup looks like something that you would commonly see in the early 2000s. 

Taurean Prince is averaging 7.3 points, and Andre Jackson Jr. is averaging 3.6 points per game. In the Y2K days, teams would have certain players who were “defensive specialists,” and they would let their star players handle all the scoring. It was a formula that sorta-kinda worked in that era, but it’s something the league has left behind a long time ago. All the great teams in today’s NBA have one thing in common: they have tremendous depth. 

On a positive note, there are signs that they have just enough to give fans reasons to hope for a deep playoff run. They are currently in the top 10 in three-point field goals, opponents’ points per game, and defensive rating. When your role players are hitting threes and stopping teams on the other end at a high level, you have a formula for success. 

On the negative side, we cannot ignore that they’re 0-8 against the top 3 teams in the Eastern Conference. They haven’t won a single game against the Celtics, Cavaliers, and Knicks. Against these incredibly deep teams, their star duo could only do so much. Instead of clinging to hope, there should be an urgency with the front office to come up with some deal to add some much-needed depth. History indicates that this is what they need if they want to win a title.