The NBA world and the Bucks can breathe a collective sigh of relief. Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo went down in a heap due to an awkward, non-contact leg injury in the third quarter of his team’s 104-91 victory over the No. 1 seed Boston Celtics on Tuesday night.
Antetokounmpo was casually jogging after inbounding the ball when he suddenly fell to the court. He grasped his left calf instantly, clearly knowing something was not right, and then was spotted limping significantly, with a couple of his teammates by his side, on his way to the locker room at Fiserv Forum.
Antetokounmpo was quickly ruled out for the rest of the game due to what the Bucks called a left calf strain. During his post-game press conference, Bucks coach Doc Rivers said Antetokounmpo would undergo an MRI. The test revealed no structural damage to Antetokounmpo’s Achilles’ tendon.
With the first round of the NBA playoffs scheduled to get underway on April 20, Rivers said his concern level for Antetokounmpo was “high.”
“He’s Giannis. I think everyone probably feels the same way as I do right now,” Rivers told reporters. “We’re just going to hope for the best.”
Antetokounmpo stuffed the stat sheet ahead of his departure with 15 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. The 29-year-old came into Tuesday’s game averaging 30.7 points per contest, the second-best output in the league, right behind Luca Doncic with 33.8. He is also crashing the boards averaging 11.6 rebounds and getting his teammates involved with 6.5 assists this season.
Despite losing Antetokounmpo, the Bucks survived a third quarter in which they managed just 15 points as a team and held on to grab the 13-point victory Tuesday. Patrick Beverley led the Bucks with 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Brook Lopez finished with 15 points.
Embed from Getty ImagesJayson Tatum paced the Celtics with a game-high 22 points, six assists and five rebounds, and Jaylen Brown added 14 points and 10 rebounds. The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for Boston. The Celtics did not attempt a single free throw the entire game. It was the first time in NBA history that a team did not shoot a free throw.
The Bucks improved to 48-31 on the season, which has them second place in a log-jammed Eastern Conference. Boston has managed to run away and hide, holding a massive 14-game lead over the Bucks, and they have locked up the top seed in the conference. The Bucks have just three games left on their schedule in the regular season.
While it is still uncertain how severe Antetokounmpo’s calf strain is, it occurred at the worst time imaginable for the Bucks. If Antetokounmpo is sidelined for any consequential amount of time, with the playoffs right around the corner next week, the Bucks could be trying to fight off a back-to-back first-round postseason exit.
