The Bucks, who are already short-staffed, are once again facing injury concerns.
The team, trailing 2-1 in the first round against the Eastern Conference third-seeded Pacers, lost star point guard Damian Lillard 121-118 in overtime on Friday night. I experienced frustration.
Unfortunately for the Bucks, who are already without superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo due to a calf strain, Lillard re-aggravated a pre-existing Achilles injury, head coach Doc Rivers said after the loss.
“I think I’ve torn my Achilles tendon again, so we’ll see how it goes.” Rivers said this after the loss..
“Honestly, Dame was really struggling,” Rivers added. “In overtime, he literally said, ‘I’m going to be the bait.’ It’s not going to explode.’ So I thought just having Dame there was huge for us.”
Lillard briefly left the game in the first quarter with an apparent injury and went to the locker room for a short period before returning to the game early in the second quarter.
Lillard previously aggravated his Achilles tendon in the Bucks’ final regular-season game against the Magic on April 14 and missed practice leading up to the playoffs. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
of Lillard plans to play. Despite the injury, he fought well in Game 4, he said Friday after the loss.
Lillard still scored 28 points in the loss, but was only 6-of-20 from the field.
He made all 12 of his free throw attempts in the contest and had a team-high eight assists.
The Bucks-Pacers series resumes Sunday in Indiana for Game 4, then returns to Milwaukee for Game 5 on Tuesday.
