Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo, left, drives past Toronto Raptors players during the second-half of the NBA basketball game. (The Canadian Press via AP)
Giannis Antetokounmpo had an intense game when Milwaukee Bucks faced Toronto Raptors on Monday, with the former NBA MVP needing three stitches to close a cut near the base of his right pinkie finger after an unfortunate injury. Despite the gruesome injury — which Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers said “kept bleeding” during the game — Antetokounmpo returned to the floor and closed out the game with a triple double, scoring 11 points, handing in 13 assists and nabbing 12 rebounds as the Milwaukee Bucks overwhelmed the Toronto Raptors 128-104.
Antetokounmpo had picked up the injury after hitting his hand on the basketball rim while trying to block RJ Barrett’s dunk in the second quarter.
“I’m fine. My finger is kind of numb, but I’m fine. I played the second half. It’s just stitches. I’m not going to overthink it,” Antetokounmpo, who is NBA’s leading scorer with 31.6 points, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
When asked if he would be able to play in the Milwaukee Bucks’ game against San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday at the Fiserv Forum, Antetokounmpo joked, “I might not be able to make threes now, oh my goodness.”
He later told reporters: “I feel great. I got some stitches in my finger. I told my wife, my wife’s still with me. She still likes me. We won the game, good day.”
Despite the injury, Antetokounmpo came back after half time and played almost the whole third quarter barring 34 seconds.
“Antetokounmpo didn’t want to come out because he felt like he could finish, but it kept bleeding,” Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “He definitely was effective, but you could see it really hurt his ball handling a little bit.”
The Milwaukee Bucks are fifth in the Eastern Conference standings.
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