MILWAUKEE – Milwaukee Bucks forward Khris Middleton will miss the remainder of his team’s first-round playoff series with the Chicago Bulls at minimum with a sprained MCL in his left knee. He will be re-evaluated in two weeks.
The Bucks announced that the three-time All-Star wouldn´t be available for Game 3 of the first-round playoff series in Chicago.
Exactly how much time Middleton will miss remains uncertain. As the defending champion Bucks spoke after the game Wednesday night they braced for the possibility they could be missing Middleton for a significant time.
“You feel for him,” Bucks guard Wesley Matthews said according to AP. “Khris is a huge part of this team, this organization, this city.”
Middleton headed into the locker room with 6:49 left in the Bucks´ 114-110 loss. His left leg gave out while he tried to plant on a spin move.
The Bucks´ injury report for the game doesn´t include forward Bobby Portis, an indication he should be available to play after missing most of Game 2 with a right eye abrasion.
Portis took a hit to the face from Chicago´s Tristan Thompson late in the first quarter as both players were going after a rebound.
Milwaukee had to overcome the loss of Giannis Antetokounmpo to a knee injury last season during the Eastern Conference finals, winning the final two games against Atlanta in part because of how well Middleton played.
Antetokounmpo missed the final two games of that series but returned for the next round and was named the MVP of the Bucks´ NBA Finals victory over the Phoenix Suns.
“Obviously, it´s a challenge. We kind of know the deal now,” Antetokounmpo said.
“We´ve got to go and get one on the road. It´s going to be hard. Nobody says it´s going to be easy. But we know what the deal is.
“Khris is down. But we have a great team, talented team, tough team. Hopefully we can go out here and compete to the highest of our ability,” Antetokounmpo added.
“Do we thrive in adversity? We´ll see. We cannot predict the future but hopefully we can be ready to compete in Game 3.”
Middleton and teammate Jrue Holiday flew with Booker to Tokyo last summer for the Olympics, just after the Bucks erased a 2-0 deficit in the NBA Finals to deny Phoenix its first NBA championship.
The Suns returned this season and soared through the best regular season in franchise history, rolling to an NBA-best 64-18 record. But they got just one win to open the postseason before Booker was hurt after scoring 31 points in the first half of Game 2.
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