Injuries make road back to NBA Finals bumpy for Suns, Bucks
The road back to the NBA Finals has become bumpy for the Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks.
Devin Booker strained his right hamstring Tuesday in Phoenix and Khris Middleton sprained his left knee a night later in Milwaukee, leaving both teams without one of their All-Stars.
That wasn’t all they lost. Both teams went on to fall in those Game 2s and find themselves tied as their series switch sites Friday night.
The Suns will be at New Orleans, while the Bucks make the short trip to Chicago.
Miami takes a 2-0 lead into Atlanta in the other game on the schedule Friday.
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.
Now the Bucks will have to find a way without Middleton, who was undergoing testing Thursday to determine the damage to his medial collateral ligament.
“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.
“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.
Then the Pelicans, who had to win two play-in games just to make the postseason, rallied for a 125-114 victory behind 37 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists for Brandon Ingram.
The Suns played through Booker’s absence because of hamstring trouble earlier in the season and a stretch without Chris Paul after the All- Star break because of a hand injury, so they also have experience having to get by without a star.
“We’re going to need everybody throughout this deep playoff run that we hope that we have,” Paul said. “So it’s been a season like that for us. Next man up. Guys stay ready.”
Miami leads 2-0. Game 3, 7 p.m. EDT, ESPN
Trae Young matched a career worst by shooting 1 for 12 in Game 1, then established a career high – of the wrong kind – by committing 10 turnovers in Game 2. Meanwhile, Jimmy Butler has been at his best for Miami and is coming off a playoff career-best 45 points in Game 2.
Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro. Miami is up 2-0 in the series without Adebayo and Herro doing much yet in the scoring columns. If the Heat get them going, Atlanta is in even more trouble.
Clint Capela (knee) is definitely out for Game 3 and seems unlikely to play in this series, no matter how long it lasts. His absence has been huge in the first two games of the series. John Collins (finger) has filled in and performed admirably, considering he can’t bend one of his fingers and the injury is so painful that he’s been noticeably wincing several times so far in the series. But without Capela and with Collins far from 100%, the Hawks aren’t themselves. “I don’t really have as much touch as I would like with my finger,” Collins said. “I’m doing the best I can.”
Young has to step up his game for the Hawks to have any chance against the top- seeded Heat. “I’ve got to be better,” said Young, who became only the second player in NBA history after Nate Archibald to lead the league in total points and assists. Young considers this a personal duel against Miami coach Erik Spoelstra, who has thrown out all sorts of defensive wrinkles to slow the Atlanta star. “Spoelstra is a top 15 coach of all time for a reason,” Young said. “He’s not going to let me just outscore ’em. He’s going to make it tough. It’s my job to try to out-think him in certain ways.”