There are already major doubts about Giannis Antetokounmpo’s status for Game 1 of the playoffs against the Pacers, but now there are injury concerns surrounding his co-star Damian Lillard as well.
Antetokounmpo picked up left calf strain on April 9 and he hasn’t been practicing with the team.
There are concerns he will miss at least one game of the series, if not more.
On Tuesday, Bucks head coach Doc Rivers confirmed that Lillard also didn’t participate in practice due to a sore left adductor muscle.
The franchise’s medical staff made the decision regarding Dame just before the team got on the court.
Rivers told reporters that Lillard had scans on his adductor “so he’s good”.
Rivers added, “But, we just have to – we felt like – and so did our doctors, let’s give him a little more rest. He’s still doing conditioning and things like that, but we went live a lot today and we just didn’t want him out there doing any of that. Or any of our guys, for that matter.
“We want him to be as close to 100 percent as possible, if you can be that at this point.”
Dame played through the irritated adductor in Bucks’ 113-88 loss to the Magic on Sunday.
Lillard’s teammate Bobby Portis tried to downplay Lillard’s absence from practice by telling the media, “To start off, man, it wasn’t a shock or anything that Dame sat out, man. It’s, what, Tuesday? And the game is Sunday. So that’s a long way away. So I don’t want nobody to put too much stress on that. I think we kind of blow things out of proportion too much.”
Lillard is known to elevate his game when it comes to the postseason.
In his last two postseason appearances, Lillard averaged 30.3 points per game while shooting 43.2 percent from three on 11.1 attempts per game.
The Bucks need him now more than ever, especially with Giannis’ return timeline remaining unclear.