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 tonight.
The Suns will be at New Orleans, while the Bucks make the short trip to Chicago.
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 underwent testing Thursday that confirmed the diagnosis of a sprained left MCL. The Bucks said he would be treated daily and his status would be updated in approximately two weeks, which means he will miss at least the rest of the first round.
“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.”
The Suns returned from their NBA Finals loss and soared through the best regular season in franchise history, rolling to an NBA-best 6418 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.
ESPN reported Thursday that Booker suffered a Grade 1 hamstring strain, an injury that usually takes about 14 to 21 days for players to recover from.
The Suns played through stretches this season without Booker and fellow All-Star guard Chris Paul, so they also have experience having to get by without a star.
“It’s been a season like that for us. Next man up. Guys stay ready,” Paul said.