Bucks All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo will officially miss Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Hawks tonight with a left knee hyperextension, tweets Eric Nehm of The Athletic.
Antetokounmpo first suffered the injury in the second half of Game 4, an eventual 110-88 Atlanta victory.
The Bucks initially listed Antetokounmpo as doubtful to suit up for tonight’s game, though there appears to be growing optimism that, should the series require a Game 7 (Milwaukee currently leads 3-2), the All-NBA First Teamer could become available.
The status of Hawks star point guard Trae Young, sidelined with a right foot bone bruise suffered in Game 3 of the series, is still up in the air.
Without Antetokounmpo for a second of Game 5 on Wednesday, the Bucks held off the Hawks sans Young, winning 123-112.
Milwaukee is on the cusp of its first NBA Finals appearance in 47 years, and a victory in either of the next two games will clinch a matchup against the Suns, who defeated the Clippers in six games on the other side of the playoff bracket.
Middleton and Jrue may still show up big, but without the home crowd behind them I think the other guys (specifically Portis and Lopez) will have a tougher time finding a rhythm. Hawks win this one with our without Trae imo.
Homecourt is becoming less and less of a factor and has been for the almost the last decade. Funny what playing in a bubble, then playing a season with no fans can do
I badly wanna see Cam in the starting lineup over Kev no matter if Trae plays or not. We need Cam guarding Jrue on the ball to make it tougher for him to initiate offense/drive into the lane
No brainer for Milwaukee here. The interesting decision will be, if they lose tonight, does Giannis suit up for G7?
Please please please….This playoffs needs a Willis Reed moment like no other
The Buck stops here.
Willis played when players weren’t millionaires. Giannis has too much in future earnings at stake to risk it. Having said that, it would be awesome if he came out and played. A real WTF moment!
Leave the Bucks alone with their good, non-Giannis flow. No need for GA to come in just to take credit.
Hopefully he’s ready to go when the Finals start on Thursday.