The Milwaukee Bucks haven't been the world-beating team everyone expected them to be when they traded for Damian Lillard this past offseason. And over the past few days, the atmosphere surrounding the Bucks has only gotten worse. Giannis Antetokounmpo and company have endured plenty of inexcusable losses as of late, the latest of which was a 111-101 defeat against the injury-riddled Memphis Grizzlies.
This defeat is coming off the heels of an embarrassing loss against the Washington Wizards, and the hits simply keep on coming for a Bucks team that was widely expected to challenge for NBA supremacy. To make matters worse, Antetokounmpo appears to be dealing with a hamstring injury, and with the playoffs approaching, this is not the best time for a team's best player to be going through a knock that could progressively get worse with wear and tear.
In fact, Bucks head coach Doc Rivers said following their loss to the Grizzlies that he should have taken the initiative to get Giannis Antetokounmpo out of the game since he observed that Antetokounmpo did not look right at all.
“I wanted to take him out of the game. I thought he was running on fumes. As a coach, you gotta make a judgment call sometimes [but] medical makes the call more. They kept saying he was okay, but I have eyes. I just didn't like the way he was moving,” Rivers said.
Alas, Doc Rivers said that Giannis Antetokounmpo wanted to play through the injury — but could this end up costing the Bucks in the long run?
Playing through injury — noble or foolish?
Despite Doc Rivers' intuition regarding Giannis Antetokounmpo's well-being, Antetokounmpo still played 32 minutes, putting up 21 points, seven rebounds, and eight assists. Rivers simply did not want to overrule Antetokounmpo, who wanted to play, and the medical staff, who said that the Bucks star was fine.
“He kept asking to go back in and trainers said he was fine, so we kind of stuck there. But I wish I would have just said no, honestly,” Rivers added.
For Giannis Antetokounmpo, he decided to play through the hamstring injury that's been bothering him because he believes that doing so would be more helpful for him in the long run.
“At the end of the day, you're going to face adversity moving forward — things not going to be always easy. … I think it's the hardest to play through pain and keep on going — not just to try to win, but also for yourself — because I think it's going to help me in the long run,” Antetokounmpo said.
Still, the smarter move would have been to err on the side of caution. Antetokounmpo is too important for the Bucks to let him play through injuries that could linger, especially with the playoffs beckoning. Thus, even with the Bucks slumping as of late, don't be too surprised if Antetokounmpo has to sit out a few games, especially given Doc Rivers' statements.
Bucks are in real danger of falling in the East
The Bucks have an easy game up next (one against the Toronto Raptors) although nothing has been easy for them in recent days. But after that, they'll be facing a murderer's row of opponents — four teams in the playoff picture (New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Oklahoma City Thunder, and two games against the Orlando Magic).
Those two games against the Magic, in particular, could be huge; Orlando is only two games behind them in the win-loss column, and if the Bucks slip up on both occasions, they could feasibly fall all the way down to fourth or fifth in the East.
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