The Milwaukee Bucks will soon be facing off against the Toronto Raptors for the second and final time this season. The Bucks are currently in a precarious position, having lost 4 of their last 5 games. Despite the fact that they are currently the 2 seed on the Eastern Conference chart and have a high chance of qualifying for the playoffs, anything can happen during these remaining games. Therefore, the Bucks will be looking to clinch this win in order to secure their position. However, the same will prove to be a difficult task with the availability of some of their top performers being under a cloud of doubt.

A few hours ahead of the game, ‘The Athletic’ reporter Eric Nehm took to his official X account to highlight the details from the recent Injury Report released by the Bucks before their game. The same brought worrisome news for Bucks fans as lead scorer Giannis Antetokounmpo, along with point guards Patrick Beverley and Damian Lillard, have all been listed as “Questionable”. Marjon Beauchamp, who has been absent for the past five games, continues to remain in the “doubtful” category. The newest addition to the Bucks, Jaylin Galloway, continues to be absent from the lineup.

Giannis has been dealing with a left hamstring tendinopathy since March. While his condition was not initially that bad and allowed him to play three more games, he had to eventually drop out of the next two after the severity of the issue could no longer be ignored. The Greek Freak continued to remain on the Injury Report, with his place firmly marked in the ‘probable’ category. Having been downgraded to ‘questionable’ now, the player’s presence at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee will be determined by whether his tendinopathy will allow him to put in a substantial number of minutes on the court.

Patrick Beverley was also in the ‘probable’ category until his team’s recent clash with the Washington Wizards. While his wrist sprain did not seem severe enough to withhold his participation, the player made things worse for himself by developing an ankle injury during the game. Similar to Giannis, the 35-year-old now finds his availability being placed at 50-50 odds. Damian Lillard was initially one of the most reliable and available players of the Bucks. The situation, however, has drastically changed in the past few days.

After missing a matchup against the Atlanta Hawks due to personal reasons, the player was declared “out” from the next clash against the Wizards. Having missed three consecutive games now, Lillard’s status has been upgraded but there is still no guarantee for his availability. The Toronto Raptors seem to be almost in the same boat as their rivals. According to their Injury Report, shooting guard Gary Trent Jr. and small forward Bruce Brown have been listed as questionable. Ochai Agbaji, who has missed three consecutive games, continues to remain in the ‘out’ category.

Giannis Antetokounmpo against the Raptors

During the course of his decade long NBA career, in which he indulged in 790 regular season games, Giannis Antetokounmpo faced off against the Raptors a total of 30 games. For someone who has barely gone a game this season without scoring 30+ points, the Greek Freak initially did not have much luck when dealing with his Eastern Conference rivals. With time, however, he improved.

During his 30 clashes with the Raptors, Giannis has managed to accumulate an average of 19.8 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 5.4 rebounds to his name. Such a low average was a result of the performance that the point guard delivered during his initial 10 games that took place from 2013-15, averaging 8.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 2.6 assists. Fortunately, the times have now changed and Giannis’s scoring ability against the Raptors has taken a huge leap. His last 10 games saw him averaging 25.5 points, 12.8 rebounds, and 7.1 assists.

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Giannis and Lillard together have scored a combined 55.1 points per game for their team this season. Their absence would place a huge gap on the Bucks scoring effort during this crucial stage of the NBA season, especially when going against a team with whom their current W/L record stands at 4-6.

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