Still a fair bit of doubt with the big guy, but Dame seems good to go
We’re just over 48 hours away from the Milwaukee Bucks’ first matchup of the 2024 NBA Playoffs when they’ll tip off against the Indiana Pacers at Fiserv Forum, and all eyes continue to be on Giannis’ calf. As you’re probably well-aware at this point, The Greek Freak strained his soleus muscle during their April 9th victory over Boston and missed the Bucks’ final three regular season games. Yesterday, The Athletic’s Shams Charania relayed that he was told it was a two to four-week injury, casting even further doubt on reports from earlier in the week that the Bucks were prepared to begin the series without him.
Today, the Bucks practiced, and The Athletic’s Eric Nehm was there as Doc Rivers spoke to the media about Giannis, plus Damian Lillard and A.J. Green, who dealt with injuries at the tail end of the regular season too. Here’s what he had to say about what Giannis’ day was like:
What was Giannis Antetokounmpo able to do today?
“He was in the gym, walked through stuff, but didn’t do anything live.”
— Eric Nehm (@eric_nehm) April 19, 2024
Obviously, that means Giannis hasn’t been a full participant in practice. No three-on-threes, even. Just some walk-throughs. Now, we don’t know what the Bucks were doing today, but Eric also tells us that earlier in the week, they seem to be going pretty hard. I’m sure Giannis wasn’t involved in that. We know he’s been rehabbing around the clock, but this latest tidbit seems to confirm the doubt that he’ll be on the floor for Game 1. Game 3 will mark two weeks since the initial injury, Game 5 will be three weeks, and Game 7 would be 25 days.
Eric also asked Doc about comments made from Bucks’ president Peter Feigin yesterday, and he seems to have more hope than his boss’ boss:
Yesterday, Bucks president Peter Feigin said Giannis Antetokounmpo “definitely will not be back for Sunday” on a local radio show.
Doc Rivers, when asked if that was accurate: https://t.co/ArRCy8zKYN pic.twitter.com/bvEasY214I
— Eric Nehm (@eric_nehm) April 19, 2024
Doc is closer to the roster itself, though Feigin is certainly very involved, just not from an on-court perspective. Feigin might end up being correct, but I think it says something that Doc is not speaking in as forceful language. Patrick Beverley also seemed to express some confidence in Giannis’ health on his podcast recently.
Elsewhere, Damian Lillard was hampered by an adductor strain in the final couple weeks of the regular season, causing him to miss four games. While he did appear in game 82, he was on the injury report and there’s been some concern about his health starting the playoffs too. Here’s what Doc said in regards to him:
Was Damian Lillard able to practice today?
Doc Rivers: “Yeah. He looked good.”
Rivers confirmed that Lillard was able to do everything in today’s practice.
— Eric Nehm (@eric_nehm) April 19, 2024
Much better news. For the Bucks to have any shot against the Pacers, it seems necessary for Dame to look like his Portland self. We’ve caught a few glimpses of that this year, but this will be his first postseason appearance since June of 2021. In that series loss, he averaged 34 and 10 against Denver, including a 55 and 42-point games. Hopefully looking “good” is something along those lines, given how much Indiana scores.
Finally, A.J. Green sprained his ankle last week and missed the final two games, but Rivers says he’s coming along better than expected:
Was AJ Green able to practice today?
Doc Rivers: “Most things. So that’s an upgrade from what we thought, it’s good.”
— Eric Nehm (@eric_nehm) April 19, 2024
Green didn’t seem likely to be a postseason piece when the year began, but his shooting, surprisingly competent defense (most of the time), and Giannis’ potential absence mean he could get some run this series.
As always, we’ll have any more updates regarding Giannis ahead of Game 1 as they come out.