By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
In Game 1 of the NBA Playoffs series between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Miami Heat, Giannis Antetokounmpo fell on the ground and was forced to leave the court with 1:46 remaining in the first quarter.
The Milwaukee Bucks lost 130-117 and Giannis came back to the court for just a few minutes in the second quarter, without attempting any shots. The Greek superstar ended the contest with 6 points and 3 rebounds in 11 minutes of playing time.
After the game, head coach Mike Budenholzer spoke about the injury. “We’ll monitor him and see how he wakes up. He just wasn’t moving. Didn’t look comfortable, confident. It felt like the right thing. We have to wait and see what the doctors say. Most importantly, what Giannis says. Certainly, we’ve been blessed with him being incredibly resilient and quick to heal, but you’ve just got to take it day by day and see how he’s doing and see how he feels”, he said.
With the MRI coming back clean, the Bucks head coach updated the status of the Freak Monday.
“He’s still sore, but I think progress. He’s getting some treatment and we’ll just continue to monitor him for the next day or two,” he said with Game 2 coming up Wednesday after an extra day off, “I think still, mostly positive, mostly optimistic. But we’ll see how he feels over the next day or two.”
Jrue Holiday, who had a monster double-double of 16 points and 16 assists, while adding 7 rebounds, also spoke about Giannis in the aftermath. “We don’t want him to be hurt, but it’s still next-man-up mentality. We have enough talent on this team to cover for him until he comes back, so again, I just don’t want to see him hurt because I know what it feels like, especially in Game 1 of the playoffs”, he added.
The 28-year-old superstar, who is in the race with Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid for his third MVP of the Season, is averaging 31.1 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game. Game 2 of the First Round best-of-seven series between Miami and Milwaukee is scheduled for April 20 at 3:00 CET.
Giannis with a scary fall 😳
Fortunately, he’s ok 🙏 pic.twitter.com/QaShNkKoUi
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 16, 2023
PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images