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This is both excellent news and a little vague.
An MRI confirmed Giannis Antetokounmpo did suffer a hyperextended left knee during Game 4, the Bucks announced. The team has listed Antetokounmpo as doubtful for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Thursday.
This is vague because hyperextension is not an injury, it is what happened to the knee — it bent beyond its regular range of motion — which can lead to a number of structural and muscular injuries. Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe of ESPN provided more detail, saying that there was no structural damage to Antetokounmpo’s knee, but added there is no timeline for his return.
The good news from all these reports: there is no ACL damage, as had been feared. It also means recovery from the injury is apparently not going to bleed into next season, which was a big concern for Milwaukee.
The most likely injury outcome is at least a bone bruise in his knee, something common to hyperextensions and mentioned by Jeff Stotts of In Street Clothes. If that is the case, it’s highly unlikely Antetokounmpo would return during the Eastern Conference Finals and he likely would miss the NBA Finals, should the Bucks advance.
There also could be more, and the vague timeline provided by the report allows for a lot of speculation. But at least this takes the worst-case scenarios off the table.
The Hawks went on a 12-0 run not long after Antetokounmpo left Game 4 with the knee injury and pushed their lead up to 20, taking control and running away with the Game 4 win. Game 5 is set for Thursday night in Milwaukee, and it is unlikely that Antetokounmpo will play, although nothing is official.
The status of the Hawks’ Trae Young, who missed Game 4 with a bone bruise in his foot, is also unknown heading into Thursday night’s critical showdown.
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Report: Giannis Antetokounmpo has “no structural damage” to left knee, doubtful for Game 5 originally appeared on NBCSports.com