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MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Bucks famous person Giannis Antetokounmpo is uncertain for his crew’s 2021 NBA Finals rematch with the Phoenix Suns on Sunday on account of a proper quad contusion. Antetokounmpo suffered the harm within the first quarter of the Bucks’ 128-99 victory over the Miami Heat on Friday night time — a outcome that gave Milwaukee the longest successful streak within the league this season at 13 video games.
A crew spokesperson initially mentioned that Antetokounmpo “knocked knees” with a Heat participant, which Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer confirmed throughout his postgame press convention. After additional analysis, nonetheless, the crew is now calling it a quad contusion.
“We’ll see how he feels tomorrow,” Budenholzer mentioned following the win over the Heat. “Just consider him and take it day-by-day.”
With simply over a minute remaining within the first quarter, Antetokounmpo briefly posted up on the proper block, then tossed the ball out to Jevon Carter and instantly signaled to the bench. He began strolling off the ground as play was happening and the Bucks referred to as a timeout to get him out of the sport. Antetokounmpo limped straight to the locker room and didn’t return.
Antetokounmpo appeared to already be in discomfort when he re-entered the sport with 1:43 remaining, and was grabbing at his knee on the possession previous to him trying out. However, it is unclear precisely when the harm occurred.
“He was principally asking out,” Budenholzer mentioned. “Fortunately we had the ball and I do not assume we all know precisely when he knocked knees. He was asking for the timeout, so we needed to name the timeout… I’m fairly positive it was both on a drive or on a display that he knocked knees with any person and simply wasn’t capable of return.”
Antetokounmpo initially wasn’t anticipated to even play towards the Heat on account of a sprained wrist he suffered throughout the crew’s last recreation earlier than the All-Star break. As a results of the wrist harm, Antetokounmpo sat out of the Skills Challenge on All-Star Saturday Night and performed simply 20 seconds within the All-Star Game on Sunday. He additionally made a visit to New York for added testing on the wrist, which proved to be constructive.
After going by means of his pre-game warm-up routing on Friday, he was cleared to play. However, Budenholzer acknowledged throughout his pre-game press convention that Antetokounmpo was “definitely not gonna be 100%.” That is now primarily based on two illnesses.
