Milwaukee Bucks all-star Khris Middleton suffers MCL sprain in Game 2 vs. Bulls
Milwaukee Bucks all-star Khris Middleton left Game 2 against the Chicago Bulls with an apparent left knee injury with 6 minutes, 49 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
He was ruled out shortly thereafter in what the team called soreness in the knee and Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer said an initial exam revealed a sprain of Middleton's medial collateral ligament (MCL).
He added Middleton will undergo further testing on Thursday.
Jrue Holiday acknowledged his teammate was upset, "But he's always been positive and he knows what type of team that we are and how resilient we are.
"We just want him to get back as quickly as possible and be healthy so he can come out here and help us win games."
Game 3 against the Bulls is Friday night.
Middleton hit the deck at the 7:30 mark after he drove to the baseline on Chicago guard Alex Caruso, and as he planted his left leg to spin away it slid out from under him. He remained on the court when Brook Lopez converted a basket and was slow to get up.
Once Middleton did get to his feet, he was limping and then flexed his left knee as he remained in the game. Giannis Antetokounmpo knew something was wrong when his longtime teammate requested a substitute.
"You know it's kind of bothering him because he doesn't leave the game if he's not hurting," Antetokounmpo said.
"We've got to focus on ourselves and we have a job to do here. Obviously Khris is one of the best players on the team. If he's not able to be with us it's going to be a tremendous loss for us, but at the end of the day we've got guys that hopefully that can step up and we can still do our job and compete and enjoy the game and hopefully it's not something very serious that he can come back and join us very soon."
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The three-time all-star hyperextended his left knee in Boston on Dec. 13 and missed three games.
He finished the night with 18 points on 6 of 11 shooting. He also had eight assists, five rebounds and four turnovers.
"You feel for him," Bucks teammate Wesley Matthews said. "Obviously you feel for him. Khris is a huge part of this team, this organization, the city. I'm not sure what the situation is. I'm sure we'll know more (Thursday) but we'll just keep rallying with him and he's going to be there for us. Hopefully it's not as bad and we still got a job to do. Our goal is to win basketball games and get him back as fast as possible."
Contact Jim Owczarski at jowczarski@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat at @JimOwczarski or Facebook at facebook.com/JOwczarski.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Khris Middleton suffers MCL sprain in Bucks playoff game vs. Bulls
