NBA: In his Bucks debut, Damian Lillard scores a record-breaking 39 points to lead Milwaukee to victory. Sixers of Philadelphia 118-117

In his first game back with his new club, Damian Lillard scored 39 points, and the Milwaukee Bucks rallied to defeat the Philadelphia 76ers 118-117 on Thursday night after trailing by 19 points at the beginning of the season.

In his Bucks debut, the former star of the Portland Trail Blazers broke the record for the most points by a player. In 1984, Terry Cummings made his Bucks debut with a score of 34 points.

After finishing 10 of 22 from the field with 23 points and 13 rebounds, Giannis Antetokounmpo became the franchise’s all-time leader in baskets. Although Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made 5,902 baskets with the Bucks from 1969 to 1975, Antetokounmpo has 5,905 career field goals.

For the 76ers, Tyrese Maxey scored 31, Kelly Oubre Jr. had 27, and Joel Embiid had 24.

Lillard had spent his first 11 seasons in Portland, but he was now playing for a new club. In order to get the seven-time All-NBA guard, Lillard demanded a trade in the summer and ended up in Milwaukee, where he was acquired for a large sum of draft capital along with Grayson Allen and two-time All-Star Jrue Holiday.

Adrian Griffin of Milwaukee, who was playing against his old employer, was making his head coaching debut in this match. Nick Nurse, the head coach of the Toronto Raptors, led Griffin’s staff for the previous five seasons. Nick Nurse is now the head coach of the 76ers.

James Harden, a seven-time All-NBA guard, was not playing for the 76ers. The 2018 MVP, who was wanting to be dealt, showed up late for training camp and said before to the season that he could not mend his damaged relationship with club president Daryl Morey.

When Harden arrived at the 76ers’ Camden, New Jersey, headquarters on Wednesday, he was informed that he would not be traveling with the team to Milwaukee. After being away from the team for ten days, Harden is back in the “ramp-up phase,” according to the nurse on Wednesday.