Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo To Miss 2nd Straight Game vs. Celtics

According to NBA insider Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo will miss his second straight game tonight (3/20) against the Boston Celtics. 

Antetokounmpo is dealing with a left hamstring injury. 

Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo (hamstring) is out tonight vs. Boston Celtics, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 20, 2024

The Bucks defeated the Phoenix Suns on March 17 without Antetokounmpo. It will be interesting to see if they can beat the Celtics without The Greek Freak. 

“It’s not an injury,” Bucks head coach Doc Rivers said about Giannis. “We’re just concerned a little bit. Plus, if you look at the schedule, you have one, two, three, four, five days off. So we planted it in him and he had to do it, which we were happy he decided to do it.”

The Bucks are in second place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 44-24. Meanwhile, the Celtics have the top record in the NBA at 54-14.

Milwaukee is 1-1 against Boston this season. 

Antetokounmpo has appeared in 64 games this season. He’s averaging 30.8 points, 11.2 rebounds and 6.4 assists while shooting 61.6% from the field, 29.2% from beyond the arc and 66.5% from the free-throw line. 

During an interview with NBA reporter Sam Amick of The Athletic, Antetokounmpo said he didn’t care about winning his third MVP Award. The future Hall of Famer won back-to-back MVPs in 2019 and 2020. 

“I’m never going to make myself look like I’m crying for a trophy,” Antetokounmpo said. “One thing I’m never going to do is, I’m never going to fall into the bubble, (and) I believe this is a bubble. This is a matrix.

“I ask you, and you. I ask everybody, or I ask my wife, ‘Babe, am I the MVP of this league?’ She’ll say, ‘Babe, you’re the MVP of my heart. I don’t care.’ If I ask my brothers, they’ll say, ‘We’re the MVP of life. We don’t care.’ I will never, never, in my life, fall into the bubble and say, ‘Yeah, I’m the MVP of the league’ and whine and cry or say, ‘Give it to me. I deserve it more.’ That’s not what I do, man. That’s not what I do. I don’t do that. But that, sometimes — my agent says this, but I don’t give a f— what my agent says — he says that s— hurts me too because they overlook me. Yeah, they overlook me. OK (shrugs). What can I do? What can I do? We can go home, huh?”