4:52pm: Middleton has been officially ruled out for Game 7, tweets Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
1:31pm: The Bucks are pessimistic about Khris Middleton‘s availability for Game 7 on Sunday, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst (hat tip to RealGM). Milwaukee originally seemed optimistic that Middleton could return, but that hope has since appeared to fade.
“Earlier this week, the folks I was talking to were giving me some optimism about Middleton playing this weekend, but that has not happened. That has not developed,” Windhorst said. “And now I would say there’s pessimism about Sunday, and frankly, I have been told that even if the Bucks advance to the conference finals, there’d be pessimism he’d be ready to start.”
Middleton suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his knee during Milwaukee’s first-round series against Chicago. He was the Bucks’ second-leading scorer this season, averaging 20.1 points on 44% shooting.
The winner of this series will advance to play the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. Milwaukee has played Miami in two straight postseasons, losing in 2020 and winning in 2021. The Celtics, meanwhile, last met the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2020.
Should the Bucks advance, Game 1 of the next round will be played on Tuesday. After that, Game 2 will commence on Thursday, while Game 3 would shift back to Milwaukee on Saturday.
Celtics are likely to win Game 7
Bucks will run it back next year
I read that Lakers and 76ers also plan to run it back
Why?
Didn’t the Celtics lose to the heat in the bubble conference finals? Or semis?
Conference finals
Yeah, this article is wrong.
If Kris is healthy does this series go 7 games? Probably not. But you play who’s in front of you. Giannis and Tatum are about to have one hell of a battle
All 10 guys are gonna be pretty important in this/every game
MIL’s half court offense looks completely unable to compete with BOS’s. With KM out and JH shooting poorly, and Giannis not a perimeter shooter, they’re too dependent on perimeter shooting by secondary guys. Whereas BOS’s group starts with Tatum and Brown. Not enough separation in any other area to make up the difference. It’s amazing the series is tied at 3-3.
Middleton was never going to play in this series. The Bucks were just using Windhorst to worry the Celtics and waste their time.