Damian Lillard goes off in Bucks playoff debut vs. Pacers: 'This is what y'all brought me here for'

MILWAUKEE -- As the seconds wound down at the end of the first quarter on Sunday in the Milwaukee Bucks' 109-94 win over the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series, the Fiserv Forum crowd stood up in anticipation. Damian Lillard dribbled between his legs a few times to find a rhythm, then stepped back and buried a buzzer-beater from 28 feet. 

"This is what y'all brought me here for," Lillard -- whose 35 points for the game all came in the first half -- told the ecstatic crowd as he walked back to the bench with a season-high for points in a quarter with 19. 

Though Lillard's shot only put the Bucks up by nine at the end of the first frame, it felt like a dagger. The Pacers, who looked out of sorts from the opening tip, never recovered, while Lillard only got better in the second quarter.

By the time Lillard checked back into the game in the middle of the second quarter, the Bucks' second unit had pushed the lead up to 20. Lillard took it from there. Over a thrilling five-minute stretch, he poured in 16 more points to push the Bucks' advantage to 27 at the half and eliminate any doubt about the game's outcome. 

Lillard's 35 points were a Bucks franchise playoff record for points in a half and tied for the eighth-most points he scored in a game all regular season. Perhaps the most telling stat, however, was that they were also more than Jrue Holiday (33) or Eric Bledsoe (27) ever had in an entire playoff game with the Bucks. 

As Lillard said, performances like this one were indeed why the Bucks made the blockbuster trade to flip Holiday for him last summer. His postseason pedigree and ability to carry the offense for stretches, games and even entire series gave the Bucks a higher ceiling than previous iterations of the team. 

He never scored in the second half, but he didn't need to as the Bucks coasted to a series-opening win without Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is sidelined indefinitely with a calf strain. As long as the two-time MVP remains out, the Bucks are going to need this version of Lillard to show up. If he sticks around when Antetokounmpo returns, even better.