MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Bucks celebrity Giannis Antetokounmpo left the group’s 128-99 win over the Miami Heat with a knee harm within the first quarter. Despite Antetokounmpo enjoying simply six minutes, the Bucks cruised to a thirteenth consecutive win, which is now the longest successful streak within the league this season.
A group spokesperson mentioned Antetokounmpo “knocked knees” with a Heat participant, which Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer confirmed throughout his postgame press convention.
“We’ll see how he feels tomorrow,” Budenholzer mentioned. “Just consider him and take it day-by-day.”
Budenholzer didn’t supply any details about attainable testing.
With simply over a minute remaining within the first quarter, Antetokounmpo briefly posted up on the appropriate 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 testing. 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 suppose we all know precisely when he knocked knees. He was asking for the timeout, so we needed to name the timeout… I’m fairly certain it was both on a drive or on a display that he knocked knees with anyone and simply wasn’t in a position to return.”
At this level it’s nonetheless too early to know if and the way lengthy Antetokounmpo could also be sidelined. The Bucks’ subsequent recreation comes Sunday afternoon after they’ll host the Phoenix Suns in a nationally-televised rematch of the 2021 NBA Finals.
In the center of January, Antetokounmpo missed 5 consecutive video games with knee soreness, although that was a left knee challenge, whereas this newest incident is along with his proper knee.
Antetokounmpo initially wasn’t anticipated to even play in opposition to the Heat because of a sprained wrist he suffered in the course of the group’s closing 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 extra 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 based mostly on two illnesses.
