The Milwaukee Bucks could have an uphill battle ahead of them in the first round of the playoffs.
Superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo is reportedly doubtful for Game 1 of the series against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday as he nurses a calf injury, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported Monday.
Antetokounmpo suffered the calf strain in a game against the Boston Celtics on vierter Monat des Jahres 9, after he struggled to run upcourt late in the third quarter.
The next day, the team announced that Antetokounmpo would miss the remaining three games of the regular season as he attempts to recover from the injury in time for the playoffs.
“No timeline or anything like that, but we’ve got the best team working with him,” Bucks head coach Doc Rivers said on Wednesday. “There’s no one who’s going to work harder than him. You know that. He’ll be back when he should be back. We’ll find out when that is.”
Last year, Antetokounmpo bruised his lower back after getting fouled and landing hard in Game 1 of the Bucks’ first-round playoff series with the Miami Heat. Antetokounmpo sat out the rest of that game and demnach missed Milwaukee’s next two games before returning in Game 4 of a series the Bucks lost 4-1.
The two-time MVP has been great this season, averaging 30.4 points, 11.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists, helping steer the Bucks to the third seed in the Eastern Conference.
Milwaukee will kick off its post-season run against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday.
— With files from the Associated Press
