CHICAGO (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo returned Saturday night from the right calf strain that kept the two-time MVP from playing in the Milwaukee Bucks’ previous eight games.
Antetokounmpo was in the starting lineup for the Bucks’ game against the Chicago Bulls, after the team upgraded him after originally listing him as questionable on the injury report.
Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers said before the game the nine-time All-Star won’t be thrown back into the grind right away.
“He’ll be on a minutes restriction,” Rivers said.
Antetokounmpo hasn’t played since injuring his calf less than three minutes into the Bucks’ 113-109 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Dec. 3. The injury came on Antetokounmpo’s fourth game back after a left adductor strain caused him to miss four games.
“Maybe it was a mistake of me coming back a little bit earlier, because once I come back, now you’re overcompensating,” Antetokounmpo said on Dec. 18. “The only way you can pop your soleus is by overcompensating and then having an extreme amount of load or play a lot of games in a short period of time. Again, I think all of the things that I was thinking and trying to come back led to the incident that I had with my soleus.”
The Bucks have gone 2-6 in the eight games Antetokounmpo has missed because of the calf issue. So far this season, the Bucks are 9-8 with Antetokounmpo and 3-11 without him.
Antetokounmpo, who turned 31 on Dec. 6, has averaged 28.9 points, 10.1 rebounds and 6.1 assists this season.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
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