Despite how well Damian Lillard performed in his Milwaukee Bucks debut on opening night, his poor shooting in the team’s 127-110 defeat to the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night highlighted why the new-look Bucks are still a work in progress.

Lillard finished with six points on 2-for-12 shooting (2-for-8 on 3-pointers) and six turnovers. According to ESPN Stats & Information, after scoring 39 points in his Bucks debut, Lillard finished with the highest negative point differential (-33) between a player’s first and second games with a franchise in NBA history.

“We’re still learning each other,” Lillard said after the game on Sunday. “It’s a process of how do I find it without holding onto the ball when I have a start like this or a game like this?” Or, in the past, I would hunt for those moments and opportunities, but now I don’t have to, so where can I get those moments and opportunities to get myself going so I can be a positive out there?

“It’s all part of the process.” This is only our second game. We haven’t played many games together. “I think we’ll figure it out and get better at it as we go.”

The Bucks never found their groove on Sunday. They never led the Hawks and trailed by as many as 31 points as Atlanta earned its first victory of the season.

Lillard had a rare off shooting night after scoring in double figures in 79 straight games, the second-longest stretch of his career (230 straight from 2016 to 2019). For the first game since 2020, he was held scoreless at halftime.

“I know how good he is,” Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who had 26 points and 11 rebounds, said. “At the end of the day, we need him to continue shooting and being great.” We obviously did not win the game, but he is now our guy.

“Game two has begun. It’s really early in the morning. We’re still figuring things out. We’re experimenting to see what works best. We’re figuring out what we’re excellent at and what we’re not.”

“You don’t want to have these types of games, but they happen,” Lillard added. Now we just have to learn from them since we have another one [Monday].”

The Bucks’ next game is at home against the Miami Heat, who eliminated Milwaukee in five games in the first round of last year’s playoffs and who Lillard stated he preferred to be dealt to when he made his initial trade request from Portland this summer.

Even though he spent some of the summer hoping he’d end up in Miami, Lillard says he’s not carrying any extra feelings or motivation into Monday’s game.

“I’ve never played on their team,” stated Lillard. “I mentioned it as a possible destination when I asked to be traded last year, but I was instead traded here.” I was overjoyed to be here. I’m delighted to be here. I feel right at home here. That was the end of it for me personally. After that, I never thought about it again.

“I’m not going into tomorrow thinking, ‘This is the team I’m supposed to be playing for,’ or anything like that. I know Jimmy [Butler] and Bam [Adebayo]; we’re fine. But I’m a Bucks player.”