The championship aspirations for the Milwaukee Bucks have now come down to the results of MRI images on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s left knee.
After exiting Game 4 loss to the Atlanta Hawks with a left knee injury, Antetokounmpo is scheduled for a MRI on Wednesday (according to ESPN’s Malika Andrews).
The Bucks called the injury an hyperextension after the game on Tuesday.
Giannis hurt his knee trying to block an alley-oop dunk by Hawks center Clint Capela at the seven minutes mark in the third quarter. The two-time MVP buckled his knee and was on the floor for a while before being helped off the floor.
Giannis appears to have injured his leg.
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 30, 2021
Prayers up 🙏 pic.twitter.com/cHZXCIsBEd
Bucks head coach, Mike Budenholzer, weighed in on what he observed after the game.
“It just looked like their legs got tangled up. They both landed awkwardly. That’s what I saw live. I haven’t seen anything else.”
After Antetokounmpo’s injury, Milwaukee fell apart; following a made basket from Jrue Holiday, the Bucks offense went scoreless for three and a half minutes. Atlanta would use that drought to go on a 15-0 run of their own to effectively put the game away.
Ultimately, Milwaukee was defeated 110-88 by a Hawks team without Trae Young and the series is now tied at 2-2.
Now that the series shifts back to the Bucks home court, the results of Giannis’ MRI looms large determining his status for Game 5 and beyond. Bucks forward, Khris Middleton, believes the team will be okay to hold down the fort if the two-time MVP does not return.
“We’ll see what happens with Giannis,” Middleton said. “It would be great if he plays, but if not, we still have a capable team of going out there and winning.”
Game 5 between the Bucks and Hawks is slated for July 1 on TNT.
[Update: ESPN’s Adrian Wojanrowski and Zach Lowe report that there’s no structural damage to Antetokounmpo’s left knee.]
