CHICAGO – Giannis Antetokounmpo suffered an injury scare on Thursday as the Milwaukee Bucks cruised to a 12th straight National Basketball Association (NBA) victory with a 112-100 win over the Chicago Bulls.
The Bucks superstar left the game in Chicago in the second quarter, shortly after a heavy collision with a stanchion as he chased down a block.
An initial injury report from the team said that he had suffered a sprained right wrist.
The injury came in the final round of NBA regular-season fixtures before the All-Star weekend.
Antetokounmpo is due to captain the Eastern Conference line-up in Sunday’s All-Star Game against the LeBron James-led Western Conference on Sunday.
Milwaukee coach Mike Budenholzer said in an interview with ESPN that the injury reports were “hopeful” and the X-ray was “clean”.
“We’ll just see how he feels tomorrow, see how he feels the next few days and continue to evaluate it,” he said, adding that he had “no idea” if Antetokounmpo would be fit to travel to Salt Lake City for the All-Star Game.
“He’s a guy that’s attacking the basket all the time.
“He’s fearless. He takes a lot of falls so you kind of learn to just expect him to always just bounce back up, and that’s what we’re hoping for from this one.”
A significant injury to Antetokounmpo would be another body blow to the mid-season NBA showpiece, which is already missing Golden State superstar Stephen Curry and the Phoenix Suns’ Kevin Durant.
His injury took the shine off another polished performance by Milwaukee (41-17), who are second in the Eastern Conference behind leaders Boston who have a 42-17 record.
With the forward making an early exit, it was left to Milwaukee’s Brook Lopez to provide the offensive thrust for the Bucks.
Lopez finished with 33 points, seven rebounds and two assists while Jevon Carter impressed with 22 points, six rebounds and six assists.
The defeat was another setback for Chicago, however.
The Bulls have now lost six straight games and have fallen outside the play-in places in the Eastern Conference at 26-33.
Chicago’s offence was blunted by the absence of DeMar DeRozan, who also missed Wednesday’s game against the Indiana Pacers with a thigh injury.
It is not clear if he will be fit to play in the All-Star Game, where he is among the Eastern Conference reserves.
In DeRozan’s absence, Nikola Vucevic led the Chicago scoring with 22 points and 16 rebounds while Zach LaVine finished with 18 points.
Elsewhere, the Washington Wizards staged a dramatic late fightback to stun the Minnesota Timberwolves 114-106 on the road.
The Wizards’ Bradley Beal scored 30-plus points for the third time in four games, finishing with 35 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Anthony Edwards was the pick of the Minnesota offence with 34 points while Kyle Anderson added 18 and Rudy Gobert 17. AFP
