Bucks suffer Damian Lillard scare: will he be back for Game 5?

More bad news for the Milwaukee Bucks who were without two of their top scorers Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo for Sunday’s Game 4 clash against the Pacers. Doc Rivers lost 126-113 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse and are now 3-1 down in the series and facing elimination. The Bucks also had forward Bobby Portis ejected for scuffling with Indiana’s Andrew Nembhard.

Lillard was seen wearing a protective boot after Saturday’s film session and Rivers explained that the guard had suffered an Achilles injury during the dying moments of the third game on Friday. He ended with 28 points, dished out eight assists and brought down one rebound in Game 3, before which he had averaged 34.5 points in the series.

Bucks without key players

Antetokounmpo meanwhile is nursing a calf injury and hasn’t taken part in any of the playoff series games. No team has ever won a playoff game while missing their top two scorers from the regular season and that trend continued at the weekend. Ahead of Game 4, Lillard and Chris Livingston were both ruled out (the latter with an unspecified, non-Covid illness) while Giannis was listed as ‘day-to-day’ which gave him a 50-50 chance of playing.

Lillard has been suffering from tendinitis in his Achilles for some time. It flared up in the 113-88 defeat to the Orlando Magic in the final game of the regular season on 14 April. That, along with an issue to his left adductor forced him to sit out one practice session although he was declared fit for the first playoff game against Indiana.

Speaking after Sunday’s game, Doc Rivers clarified the situation: “I have not talked to our medical guys because I want to have some good news for about five minutes... Every time I talk to them it’s not good news right now. Maybe if I don’t talk to them, they’ll be okay! We don’t talk about it. We didn’t talk about Damian today, we didn’t talk about Giannis today. We don’t talk about injuries. There’s nothing we can do. We can give Giannis and Dame support and get them healthy but we’re not gonna put them in harm’s way. That’s number one. We’re gonna play the guys that are ready to play”.

Just one player was listed when the Bucks updated their injuries list this morning. Chris Livingston has been updated to ‘day-to-day’ while there was no mention of Lillard or Antetokounmpo which suggests that both will be available for Game 5. Rivers had said he was “optimistic” about Antetokounmpo returning at some point, telling reporters, “I think there’s a chance for him to play in this series. I really do”.