04/28/25 12:59:00
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04/28 00:57 CDT Bucks' Lillard leaves Game 4 of Pacers series with injury to
his lower left leg
Bucks' Lillard leaves Game 4 of Pacers series with injury to his lower left leg
By STEVE MEGARGEE
AP Sports Writer
MILWAUKEE (AP) --- Damian Lillard worked tirelessly to make an extraordinarily
rapid return from deep vein thrombosis in his calf and join his Milwaukee Bucks
teammates for the playoffs.
In just his third game back, he suffered another potential long-term injury to
his other leg.
Lillard was helped off the court and into the locker room after a non-contact
injury midway through the first quarter of the Bucks' 129-103 loss to the
Indiana Pacers in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference first-round series Sunday
night. The preliminary examination of Lillard indicated a possible Achilles
tendon injury, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated
Press.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the team did not
immediately reveal those details. The Bucks only described it as a lower left
leg injury.
"They're going to do an image tomorrow," Bucks coach Doc Rivers said.
"Obviously, it's lower leg. And, just being honest, it's not very promising."
Lillard was behind the 3-point line around the top of the key midway through
the first quarter when the ball bounced toward him. Lillard used his left hand
to tip the ball toward teammate Gary Trent Jr., then went down and grabbed the
lower part of his left leg, around his ankle. The seven-time all-NBA player
continued to sit on the floor as play resumed on the other end of the court.
After a foul stopped play, Lillard was helped up. He then started limping and
had to be assisted off the court and into the locker room. The Bucks will now
wait to learn the severity of his injury.
"He's one of the toughest, mentally toughest guys I've ever been around, that's
why he is who he is," Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo said. "I believe he's
going to overcome every obstacle that's put in front of him. Everybody's going
to be there for him."
The possibility this injury could keep Lillard out for a significant length of
time was evident to both teams. Indiana's Tyrese Haliburton and Myles Turner
each opened their postgame news conferences by expressing their concern for
Lillard.
"You hate to see that happen, especially to a guy who went through a lot and
he's given it his all to come out here and play after a scary healthy issue,"
Haliburton said.
Lillard had missed the Bucks' final 14 regular-season games as well as the
opening game of this series with deep vein thrombosis, an abnormal clot within
a vessel where the congealing of blood blocks the flow through on the way back
to the heart.
He was taken off the blood-thinning medication and cleared to resume full
basketball activities at the end of the regular season. He returned for Game 2
of this series on Tuesday.
"This is a tough one, honestly," Rivers said. "Blood clot, followed by this.
It's just tough. That's why you have teammates and family around him. He's just
such a great freaking dude, on a basketball level, but more importantly as a
teammate and a father and all that stuff."
The Bucks have endured all sorts of postseason injuries since winning a title
in 2021.
Khris Middleton missed an entire seven-game Eastern Conference semifinal loss
to Boston in 2022 with a sprained medial collateral ligament. Giannis
Antetokounmpo bruised his lower back in Milwaukee's first playoff game in 2023
and didn't return until Game 4 of a first-round series it lost 4-1 to Miami. In
the Bucks' 4-2 first-round loss to Indiana last year, Antetokounmpo didn't play
at all because of a calf strain and Lillard missed two games with an Achilles
injury.
The Bucks now trail Indiana 3-1 and are on the brink of elimination as they
worry about Lillard's long-term prognosis.
"I'll make sense of it this summer," Rivers said. "Nothing you can do about it,
I do know that, except try to rally your team, get them back together and try
to win one game to get it back to Milwaukee."
___
AP Pro Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds contributed to this report.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
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