The Milwaukee Bucks (1-0) opened the 2023-24 regular season with a 118-117 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers (0-1) Thursday night at Fiserv Forum. The crowd of 17,783 was not only a sellout, but the largest season opener at the arena since its opening in 2018.

“The intensity was very high,” Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo said. “It was almost like a playoff game.”

Giannis, Damian Lillard lead Bucks to victory late

A strong defensive effort and some strong play with a five-man bench helped the Bucks build an 18-point first half lead, but in order to stop reigning league MVP Joel Embiid and the potent backcourt duo of Tyrese Maxey and Kelly Oubre, the Bucks needed their two stars to come up big.

And they did, especially late.

With the Bucks trailing 102-97 following a 14-0 76ers run, Damian Lillard's gravity kept two defenders near him and left Brook Lopez wide open for a three. The big man drained it, and it started a comeback that saw Giannis Antetokounmpo and Lillard score 13 straight points to take a 113-104 lead with 2 minutes, 45 seconds left in the game.

“Just a lot of resolve,” Griffin said of his star duo, noting that Philadelphia was always going to hang around despite missing star point guard James Harden.

“Overall I just thought our resolve in that fourth quarter shows a lot about our team, as far as our character," Griffin continued. "And those guys buckled down. They’re special for a reason. I thought they showed it tonight.”

BOX SCORE: Bucks 118, 76ers 117

Lillard punctuated the run with a step-back three-pointer from 30 feet over Oubre to make it 116-111.

“That’s a look that I’ll take seven days a week,” Lillard said of the shot.

Following a Tobias Harris three, Lillard then clinched it with two free throws with 11.5 seconds left after Antetokounmpo handed the ball off to him. The Bucks' new point guard scored 14 points in the fourth quarter, including six off free throws.

“Anytime your team is encouraging you to be yourself and do what you do when its so early, it helped,” Lillard said. “I’ve had enough conversations with guys, especially with Giannis, where I came in knowing what was expected of me when these type of situations came (up).

"I’ve been in enough of those situations where I know it’s probably not going to be me making the shot or taking the shot, but they’re encouraging me to be the person to take control and make decisions and decide what’s going to happen in those moments. And that’s what I’m here to do.”

More: Nickel: Welcome to Milwaukee, Damian. Here's the ball. Feel free to take over.

Lillard set a franchise record for most points in a debut performance by a Bucks player by scoring 39 points. He was 17-for-17 from the free-throw line and shot 9 of 20 from the field, including a 4-for-12 mark from behind the three-point line.

“Well, he’s a big time player and big time players do special things out there,” Griffin said. “It makes me look great as a coach. I’m the smartest guy in the world right now. But in all seriousness, when you have a guy like that that can just take over a game, it is special. But he’s been doing this. This is who he is and we’re fortunate to have him on our team. You just got a sense during the game that he wasn’t going to let us lose. He made big plays. What can I say? He was incredible.”

Antetokounmpo scored 23 points on 10 of 22 shooting. He also pulled down 13 rebounds while also taking Embiid one-on-one for a stretch early in the third quarter to slow down the Philadelphia rally.

“I had the conversation with coach ‘Griff’ and I told him that whenever he feels like he wants to allow me to guard one of the players that gets going at the time – it was Joel Embiid – or one of the best players on the team, he should just let me know,” Antetokounmpo said of that assignment. “It’s something that I want to work on from Game 1 to Game 82 so I’m able to do it in the playoffs.

"It’s something that I think that my team needs me to do, to take that individual pride and guard the guy that’s tough and try to make it as difficult as possible. I think it’s just coach. He trusted me, even though I had three fouls at the time, he trusted me to guard him and try to make it tough for him.”

Maxey scored 31 to lead the 76ers while Embiid had 24. Oubre had 27 off the bench. Harris added 20.

Lopez had 13 while Bobby Portis added 10 off the bench for the Bucks.

Adrian Griffin wins debut with Bucks

The Bucks introduced the entire coaching staff prior to the roster before tipping off against the 76ers, finishing the announcement with Griffin. He waved to the crowd but kept a stone face.

Before the game he said he wasn’t playing, so the anxiousness wasn’t quite the same as one of those debuts but it was his first contest as an NBA head coach. The team displayed the active hands and defensive ferocity Griffin instilled from the start of camp, and at times the offense looked incredibly impressive with Antetokounmpo, Lillard and Khris Middleton together.

But with Antetokounmpo managing fouls and Middleton having a minutes limit, there were also gaps where the 76ers were able to take advantage and take a lead after falling behind by 18. Griffin had Antetokounmpo and Lillard, though, and the stars helped lead him to his first victory as a head coach.

After the game, Griffin tried to give the game ball to Antetokounmpo for setting a new franchise record for made field goals in his career, only to see the star give it right back.

“I still have a lot to learn as a head coach,” Griffin said afterward, a little damp from a celebratory water shower. “I thought we did some really good stuff. I’m probably my toughest critic. But, I’m fortunate to be in this seat. I try to keep it in perspective. It’s about the players. They make the sacrifice.

"I played this game before and I know what they go through on a nightly basis. To start the season, that’s as tough as it gets on both sides of the ball. A complete battle. And then we’re going to ask them to come back (Friday) and watch some film and get another practice in.

"It’s not about me, but I’m really fortunate to be a head coach. But we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Early Bucks rotation notes

Marquette University alumnus Jae Crowder was the Bucks sixth man in the opener, subbing in for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Pat Connaughton then relieved Middleton before Portis relieved Lopez. It was a bit of a change from the past few seasons, as Portis had been Antetokounmpo’s sub for the majority of games.

Antetokounmpo and Lillard were staggered and played with second unit subs, with Middleton serving as a bridge between the two groups.

As expected Cam Payne was Lillard’s direct sub at point guard.

MarJon Beauchamp was worked in during the second quarter and got extended time with starters as he drew Maxey defensively – effectively.  He also got out and ran to present as a down-court threat. That paid off with a lay-in off a long pass from Middleton to put the Bucks up 18 points in the first half.

Late in the first half Beauchamp subbed for Lillard, effectively making Antetokounmpo the point guard along with Connaughton, Beasley and Lopez.

In all, 10 players saw court time for the Bucks in the opening half and all but Payne (three fouls in five minutes) played at least 10 minutes while Antetokounmpo and Lillard played 17.

The Bucks had at least Antetokounmpo or Lillard on the court until the final 2:17 of the third quarter with Antetokounmpo having four fouls and Lillard playing 27 minutes at that point. The lineup of Connaughton, Portis, Crowder, Beauchamp and Payne maintained the Bucks lead into the fourth quarter.

Did you notice?

Malik Beasley ran into Lopez atop the three-point line following a Middleton skip pass across the court. The slight collision forced Lopez to have to gather himself, but the 7-footer did just that and knocked down the 25-footer. The two then high-fived each other as the 76ers called timeout down 15-7. The Bucks have said it’s going to take time to figure out their spacing on offense, and perhaps there was no better example of that – with a positive outcome – than that amusing moment.

In the second quarter, Crowder looked as if he tried to toss a lob to Beauchamp – only Lillard was the one that went up for it as the two Bucks were both tracking into the paint. Lillard got the shot up, but Jaden Springer got a hand on it and sent Lillard sprawling.

5 numbers

1 Career win as a head coach for Griffin

3 Teams in NBA history that have had two sets of brothers on their roster – the 2014-15 Phoenix Suns (Goran and Zoran Dragić, Markieff and Marcus Morris) and the 2019-20 and 2023-24 Bucks with Brook and Robin Lopez and Thanasis and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

16 Minutes played by Middleton, none in the fourth quarter. Middleton was 2-for-5 from the floor for six points. He also had four assists and three rebounds. Middleton played 12 minutes in the preseason finale, which was his first game action since offseason knee surgery.

"We just wanted to be smart with him to start the year, it’s a long year,” Griffin said, adding it would be doing Middleton an injustice to push his minutes to a high level so soon. “I thought we started the game tremendously. Our defense, our ball pressure, I think we held them to 23 points in the first quarter and Khris was a big part of that. You could see the chemistry. We’re not rushing anything. We’re just taking it day by day. He’s going to continue to progress and his minutes will continue to increase."

8:03 Minute mark of the first quarter for Lillard’s first points with the Bucks. It was off an assist from Middleton.

5,905 Career made field goals for Giannis Antetokounmpo, breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s franchise record of 5,902.

James Harden did not play for the 76ers

The 76ers point guard had been away from the team during the end of training camp but arrived just before they left for Milwaukee. At that point, the 76ers told him to remain behind and he is listed as "out" for return to competition conditioning.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Damian Lillard has record-setting debut as Bucks beat 76ers 118-117