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Jamal Collier
CLEVELAND — Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo left in the second quarter of Monday’s 118-106 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers because of a left groin strain. He is scheduled to undergo an MRI on Tuesday, Bucks coach Doc Rivers said after the game.
“Didn’t look great, I can tell you that,” Rivers said. “We’ll know more tomorrow.”
Rivers said Antetokounmpo began favoring his groin as early as the first quarter and grabbed his left groin multiple times before he exited the game. With 3:03 remaining in the second quarter, Antetokounmpo hobbled up the court on defense before committing a foul and heading toward the Bucks’ locker room.
He was ruled out after halftime.
“He grabbed it in the first quarter, and I asked him and he said it was fine,” Rivers said. “Then, I think, he grabbed it again, and he said it was fine. Then, the third time is when it happened, but I think it happened earlier, in my opinion.”
Antetokounmpo exited Rocket Arena without a limp or extra assistance. He scored 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting with 5 rebounds and 4 assists in 13 minutes in the first half.
The Bucks were outscored 59-49 and shot just 38.6% after halftime as they dropped back-to-back games for the first time this season.
“We want to be able to try to get into the paint as much as we can, especially not having him, it was a little bit hard,” Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma said. “We had a couple possessions where we stalled or we might’ve posted up a little bit more than we kind of wanted to, but I think that we’re going to hit the tape in the next day or two and figure out ways to incorporate [that] if it is a groin strain.”
Antetokounmpo has enjoyed one of the best starts of his career. He averaged 32.6 points on 63% shooting with 11.3 rebounds and 7.1 assists in his first 12 games this season. And the Bucks have been relying on their superstar even more heavily. His 36.4% usage rate ranked second in the NBA entering Monday and was Antetokounmpo’s highest usage since the 2022-23 season.
The Bucks fell to 8-7 after Monday’s loss, and they are 1-1 in games Antetokounmpo has missed this season. On Monday night, Rivers was already preparing a potential game plan in case Antetokounmpo is sidelined.
“We got some work to do,” Rivers said. “There’s always a silver lining. … I don’t know what it is. It doesn’t look good right now. If we got [Kevin Porter Jr.] out and Giannis out, that’s not great for our team, but we’re going to either find somebody or find something to run that will pay dividends later. And that’s the stretch that we’re about to go through. We’ll be ready.”
