Giannis Antetokounmpo sent an injury scare through the Milwaukee Bucks camp late in Tuesday's 131-125 overtime win over the Boston Celtics, but the initial report was positive according to head coach Mike Budenholzer.
Antetokounmpo went down awkwardly on landing following an unsuccessful drive to the basket in the fourth quarter and remained on the floor, before slowly getting to his feet and walking to the bench.
The Greek forward never left the game and played out the OT win, finishing with 36 points, 13 rebounds, nine assists and two blocks as the Bucks claimed their 11th straight victory.
"They gave me a quick update just saying that they think he just banged knees with somebody," Budenholzer said.
"We'll check him in the morning, but I'd say the initial kind of report was positive."
Antetokounmpo's return was his 24th 30/10 game of the season, which is the most in the NBA. He was well supported by Jrue Holiday with a joint career-high 40 points on 13-of-21 shooting from the field with eight-of-12 from beyond the arc.
Holiday's eight three-pointers was also a new career high, coming after his selection in the upcoming All-Star Game for the first time since 2013, marking the longest gap between All-Star appearances in NBA history.
"I don't really care for how I'm playing as long as we're winning," Holiday said. "For me, as long as we get the win, I'm OK.
"The only stat I look at is turnovers. That's kind of how I determine if I had a good or bad game. Tonight, what did I have, five turnovers? To me, that hurts my soul."
The win was not only the Bucks' 11th straight, but also saw them down their main Eastern Conference rivals for the top seed. The Bucks improved to a 40-17 record, narrowing the gap to the Celtics (41-17).
However, Boston were missing several key players, including Jayson Tatum (rest) and Jaylen Brown (facial fracture).
Celtics forward Sam Hauser had sent the clash to overtime with a game-tying three-pointer with 3.0 seconds remaining when Khris Middleton opted not to foul.
"We do different things at the end of the game," Budenholzer said. "The catch-and-shoot coming out of that is probably what they're looking for. We defended everything well, defended all the screens prior.
"He gets it out at half-court and hits a 30-footer. There's different things that we'll do. Credit to Hauser for making the shot. Khris did exactly what we asked him to do. Just fortunate to find a way to win it in overtime."
Nikola Jokic triple-double propels Denver Nuggets past Miami Heat 104-93
The Denver Nuggets cruised to an 11-point win over a lacklustre Miami Heat in the first game of the NBA finals.
Nuggets centre Nikola Jokic was pivotal in the 104-93 victory, picking up a seamless triple-double in his finals debut.
Miami had no defensive answers for the 28-year-old Serbian, who orchestrated Denver’s offence before finishing with 27 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds.
Outside of the first few minutes, Denver never looked like losing – much to the appreciation of a raucous home crowd.
Bam Adebayo had a strong showing for the Heat as he picked up a team-high 26 points, but he had little help from an inconsistent offence.
On the other hand, Jokic was ably assisted by a 26-point effort from Jamal Murray, while fellow starters Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr added 16 and 14 points respectively.
The seven-game series is Denver’s first trip back to the finals in 47 years, while Miami are on the hunt for their fourth championship.
Nikola Jokic has triple-double to lead Nuggets past Heat in Game 1 of NBA Finals
The Denver Nuggets didn’t show much rust despite a lengthy layoff and Nikola Jokic stepped up down the stretch in his NBA Finals debut, helping his team hold off the Miami Heat for a 104-93 victory in Game 1 on Thursday.
Jokic scored 12 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter – including eight in the final four minutes after the Heat stormed back to cut a 24-point deficit to just nine points.
The two-time league MVP also assisted on 14 baskets and grabbed 10 rebounds to notch his ninth triple-double of this year’s playoffs.
Jokic had plenty of help with Jamal Murray finishing with 26 points and 10 assists, Aaron Gordon adding 16 points and six rebounds and Michael Porter Jr. chipping in 14 points and 12 boards for a Nuggets team that improved to 9-0 at home in the playoffs.
The Heat were led by Bam Adebayo’s 26 points and 13 rebounds, while Gabe Vincent scored 19 and Haywood Highsmith had 18 points off the bench.
Jimmy Butler, the MVP of the Eastern Conference finals, had 13 points – his fewest of the playoffs – along with seven rebounds and seven assists.
With nine days off between games after sweeping the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference finals, there was concern that the Nuggets would be a bit rusty, but that wasn’t the case.
Playing in its first Finals in the franchise's 47-year history, Denver came out firing on all cylinders early in front of a raucous crowd, shooting 59.5 per cent in the opening two quarters to jump out to a 59-42 half-time lead.
The Nuggets pulled away in the third quarter to build an 84-60 advantage but the battle-tested Heat responded.
Highsmith scored 12 points in the fourth quarter and his 3 with 2 ½ minutes to play pulled the Heat within nine points, but that is as close as they would get.
Game 2 will be Sunday in Denver, and it’s possible Tyler Herro will be cleared to play.
Herro has been sidelined since fracturing his right hand in Miami’s playoff opener on April 16, and has been increasing his basketball activities in the last week.
Pistons hire Monty Williams as coach
Monty Williams will be named the next coach of the Detroit Pistons and is expected to sign a six-year, $78.5 million contract, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The Pistons will give Williams the largest coaching deal in NBA history to replace Dwane Casey, who stepped down as Detroit’s coach in April to move into a front-office role.
The Athletic reported that there are team options for the seventh and eighth year, and incentives that could increase the deal to $100 million.
Williams was fired by the Phoenix Suns on May 13 after four seasons with the team, including a trip to the 2021 NBA Finals. He won 63 percent of his games with the Suns and was named the NBA Coach of the Year in May 2022 after leading Phoenix to a franchise-record 64 wins.
The Suns, however, had huge losses in elimination games in the playoffs in consecutive seasons and that ultimately led to Williams’ firing.
Casey went 121-263 in five seasons with Detroit and the team made the playoffs only once under his guidance.
The Pistons finished an NBA-worst 17-65 in 2022-23 for their seventh straight losing season. They haven’t won a playoff round since 2007-08.
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