MILWAUKEE — Damian Lillard, returning from a concussion, hit a game-winning layup with 3.9 seconds left to give the Milwaukee Bucks a 101-100 victory over the Houston Rockets on Monday. The win snapped the Rockets’ five-game winning streak.

Lillard, who had never experienced a concussion before, missed three games before returning to action. He scored 18 points and had 10 assists, although he struggled from three-point range, missing all six attempts. Despite his uneven performance, Lillard came through when it mattered most.

”That was actually my first time in my life just getting a concussion,” Lillard said. “I’ve played football. I box all the time. I’ve been in some situations where you would expect I’d have had a concussion before, but first time.”

Lillard’s return was a challenging process. He admitted feeling off and having to go through concussion protocol. “Usually when something is wrong with me, I feel I can will myself through it and I’m all right,” Lillard said. “This was probably one of the first times in my life and definitely in my NBA career where I was like, ‘Something is off.’ It was a little frustrating because I didn’t have a choice but to go through the process.”

Despite his struggles, Lillard’s clutch performance did not go unnoticed. Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo praised Lillard’s ability to finish games. “I think he’s one of the best to ever do it — like finishing the game,” Antetokounmpo said.

Bucks coach Doc Rivers compared Lillard to legendary shooter Ray Allen. “Dame just has great courage, you know?” Rivers said. “Reminds me a lot of Ray Allen in that way. Ray didn’t have a lot of bad shooting nights, but when he had one, if you had one shot to make, you still wanted to go to him. And that’s how you feel about Dame. Like, whether he’s on fire or not, he just has this thing in him that he believes that he should take the last shot and make the last shot. And he does it over and over.”

In the final seconds, Lillard drove into the lane, split two defenders, and made the decisive layup. “I could feel it was one of those games where I needed to keep going, keep my foot on the gas down the stretch,” Lillard said. “It just came down to those last two plays. I got one to go and we were able to get a stop on the other end.”

Lillard’s determination to return to the court was evident. “I tried to really speed my way through the protocols so I could get back,” Lillard said. “I think it ended up kind of working against me. I did a 30-minute bike ride, 30-minute treadmill, 30 minutes on the court all in one day just to try to see how I felt. I saw that I wasn’t right. And then from there, I was doing 45-minute workouts on the court, just trying to do that fast-paced, less breaks, stuff like that just to push myself to try to make up for not being on the floor.”

The Bucks’ victory highlighted Lillard’s resilience and clutch performance, showcasing his critical role in the team’s success.