The Milwaukee Bucks desperately need Giannis Antetokounmpo back on the floor.
His status for Game 2 of their series versus the Miami Heat is still up in the air, although Shams Charania reports that there’s a chance he plays.
Charania stated that it’ll all go down to pain tolerance, citing that the MRI and X-rays all came negative, so it might go down to whether Giannis is willing to play through the pain and if the team will allow him to do so.
“It’s still a pain tolerance injury, MRI came back clean, X-Rays came back clean… we’ll see if Giannis plays tonight or not – the team obviously is hopeful that he plays”@ShamsCharania with the latest on Giannis’ injury#RunItBack | #FearTheDeer pic.twitter.com/eaTe0c2iaY
— FanDuel TV (@FanDuelTV) April 19, 2023
Giannis rarely misses games, and he’s by far the most important contributor to Mike Budenholzer’s team.
He’s coming off an MVP-caliber season, and his absence took a massive toll on his team’s ability to keep up with the Heat.
Giannis is a plus-defender who can guard multiple positions and match up with both Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, not to mention his importance on the offensive end of the floor.
The Bucks can also lean on Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton, and even this version of Brook Lopez to a lesser extent for offensive production, but not having Giannis out there means they need to make up for more than 30 points per game.
Giannis is the team’s heart, soul, and vocal leader, and losing home-court advantage could be a huge factor in this series.
Still, it sounds like he could be on the floor for Game 3 if he’s forced to miss Wednesday’s contest with this lower-back injury, so the Bucks might want to be extra cautious with their franchise cornerstone.
NEXT:
Bucks Fans Get Bad News Ahead Of Game 2
