The Milwaukee Bucks received good news ahead of Game 6: Damian Lillard is playing.
Lillard missed Games 4 and 5 of the Bucks’ first-round series against the Indiana Pacers with right Achilles tendinitis. He re-aggravated the injury during Milwaukee’s Game 3 loss Friday.
The Bucks are 2-3 in the series and on the brink of elimination heading into Thursday night’s game, which tips off at 6:30 pm ET.
Getting Lillard back for Game 6 could be huge for the Bucks, depending on his condition. In the first three games of the series, he was the team’s leading scorer, putting up 32.3 points per game. But following Game 3, coach Doc Rivers said Lillard told him that he was unable to explode like normal in the overtime period because of the injury he suffered to his right leg on one of the final plays of the fourth quarter.
If Lillard can be his normal self, it would be a massive boost for the Bucks, but they will need to keep an eye on him throughout the game.
Milwaukee will continue to play without star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has missed the entire playoff series with a left soleus (calf) strain he suffered against the Boston Celtics on April 9.
Rivers told reporters that Antetokounmpo had a great workout Thursday morning, but the two-time NBA MVP cannot play in Game 6. In his absence, the Bucks will need Bobby Portis to step up again.
Portis has filled Antetokounmpo’s spot in the starting lineup throughout this series and scored a career playoff-high 29 points in Milwaukee’s Game 5 victory to extend the series to Game 6 in Indianapolis.
Required reading
(Photo: Trevor Ruszkowski / USA Today)
