The Milwaukee Bucks’ injury woes have worsened during their first-round series with the Indiana Pacers. All-Star point guard Damian Lillard has been diagnosed with a Grade 1 Achilles tendon strain and will miss Game 4 on Sunday, the team announced.
Giannis Antetokounmpo has not played since April 9 due to a lingering calf strain.
Late in the fourth quarter of their heartbreaking overtime loss in Game 3, the Bucks were trying to foul to extend the game when Lillard re-aggravated his Achilles. Though it went largely unnoticed in real time, you can see Lillard limping as he goes to pick up Patrick Beverley on the replay. While Lillard remained in the game the rest of the way, he did not take a shot in the extra frame.
“Honestly, Dame was really struggling,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said after Game 3. “In the overtime, he literally said, ‘I’ll be the decoy. I just can’t go as far as explosion.’ So I thought Dame just being out there was huge for us.”
Lillard said during his post-game press conference that his “plan” was to play in Game 4.
“I think tonight, it was just so fresh, just re-aggravated after having a whole week where you could kind of get it together,” Lillard said. “But I just wanted to be on the floor in case some opportunity came up, or however I could help. But obviously, tonight, we’re gonna get back and just have to get ahead of it because that’s not something you want to play with.
“It’s one of those spots on your body where you literally can’t do nothing about it. If you can’t move, you can’t move. So we got a couple days, tonight, to start to try to get ahead of it and just get it feeling better, try to get ready for Sunday.”
The Achilles injury wasn’t the only scare during the game for Lillard. Late in the first quarter, he drove to the basket for a tough layup and Pascal Siakam landed on his ankle. Lillard twisted his knee in the process and stayed down on the ground in clear pain before hobbling to the bench and down the tunnel. His stay in the locker room turned out to be brief, however, and he…
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