Bucks guard Damian Lillard went down in the first quarter of Friday’s Game 3 against the Indiana Pacers with a worrisome leg injury. Lillard was going up for a layup on Indiana’s Pascal Siakam when Siakam accidentally landed on his lower left leg. Replays showed Lillard’s ankle twisting inward a bit with the contact also seemingly causing some strain on his left knee.
Lillard immediately grabbed at his knee and had to hobble off the floor with the help of teammates and training staff.
Lillard eventually returned to the contest to begin the second quarter after missing just over two minutes of game action.
It was possible that Lillard was pushing himself to play through the injury with Milwaukee already without one star in Giannis Antetokounmpo due to a calf issue and another one in Khris Middleton at less than 100 percent due to an ankle injury. Game 3 was effectively a must-win for Milwaukee too with Indiana taking Game 2 of the series as well as home-court advantage.
For Lillard, who was absolutely fantastic in Game 1 against the Pacers, his status will now have to be monitored closely for the remainder of the series to see if anything flares up on him.
More must-reads: