Report: Bucks fear Giannis Antetokounmpo suffered severe ACL injury - NBC Sports

Giannis Antetokounmpo left the Bucks’ Game 4 loss to the Hawks last night with a nasty-looking knee injury.

How bad is it?

Farbod Esnaashari of Bleacher Report:

Sources: People within the Milwaukee Bucks organization fear that Giannis Antetokounmpo has suffered a severe ACL injury. However, no MRI has been done yet.

— Farbod Esnaashari (@Farbod_E) June 30, 2021

That’d be devastating.

To Antetokounmpo. To Milwaukee. To anyone who wants to see a well-played NBA playoffs.

The Buck have a great opportunity to win a championship.

And they could still win without to Antetokounmpo. Which speaks to how shorthanded all the remaining teams are, because Antetokounmpo is obviously an excellent player.

Atlanta guard Trae Young also missed Game 4, though Atlanta pounded Milwaukee even before Antetokounmpo went down. Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard remains out and there’s no expectation he’ll return this season. Suns guard Chris Paul hasn’t looked like himself since returning from coronavirus.

Really, with Paul merely rusty rather than out and holding a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference finals, Phoenix has become an even-stronger title favorite.

And then there are the already-eliminated All-Stars who missed games in the playoffs:

• Nets guard Kyrie Irving
• Nets guard James Harden
• Jazz guard Mike Conley
• Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell
• 76ers center Joel Embiid
• Lakers big Anthony Davis
• Celtics wing Jaylen Brown

That doesn’t even count Young (no, he wasn’t an All-Star) or Nuggets guard Jamal Murray.

Hopefully, Antetokounmpo’s injury isn’t as severe as feared. But there are only a few days left in the Eastern Conference finals and a few weeks left in the playoffs. Even a moderate injury could sideline Antetokounmpo the rest of the postseason.

More on the Bucks

Antetokounmpo knee injury cloud over Hawks’ impressive win to even...

Giannis Antetokounmpo leaves game after gruesome hyperextension of left knee

Hawks’ Trae Young out for Game 4 with bone bruise on foot

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Report: Bucks fear Giannis Antetokounmpo suffered severe ACL injury - NBC Sports
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Serena Williams Said She's "Heartbroken" After Retiring From A Match With Injury. Now Wimbledon Is Facing Backlash For Putting Players In Danger. - BuzzFeed News

Pictures of Williams leaving the tournament grounds following her match seemed to show that she was "walking OK" after receiving treatment.

Although the tennis legend, who turns 40 in September, has yet to reveal her future plans, her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, appeared to suggest that they'd continue to work together.

"Serena trained hard. She was ready. She wanted it with all her heart. But unfortunately, her foot slipped and her body, as it reacted, broke down," Mouratoglou wrote on Instagram. "It is heartbreaking but there is nothing we can do about it, except working and trying again."

And, in a potential message of hope, he appeared to look to the future, simply writing: "See you soon."

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Serena Williams Said She's "Heartbroken" After Retiring From A Match With Injury. Now Wimbledon Is Facing Backlash For Putting Players In Danger. - BuzzFeed News
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Clippers news: Kawhi Leonard, Ivica Zubac's official status in Game 6 - ClutchPoints

As expected, Kawhi Leonard remains out for the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals against the Phoenix Suns. Fortunately, they could have Ivica Zubac back for the contest.

According Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN, Leonard has been ruled out while Zubac has been labeled as questionable for Wednesday’s showdown. Kawhi is still dealing with the knee sprain he suffered in the second round against the Utah Jazz, while Ivica missed Game 5 due to a right knee MCL sprain.

Kawhi Leonard has been ruled out for Game 6. Ivica Zubac, who was out for Game 5, is listed as questionable with a right knee MCL sprain.

— Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) June 30, 2021

Even in Kawhi Leonard’s absence, the Clippers continue to fight and stay alive in the Western Conference Finals. They went down 3-1 to the Suns and when their championship hopes seemed to be fading, Paul George stepped up big time to get them rolling again.

PG13 exploded for 41 points and 13 rebounds in their 116-102 win in Game 5 on Wednesday, cutting the deficit to just 3-2 with a chance to tie things up at home.

Ivica Zubac missed his first game of the 2021 playoffs the last time out, but Terance Mann and Marcus Morris filled in his place nicely. The Clippers will be hoping he is able to play in Game 6 though, especially since they will need his size to prevent Deandre Ayton from dominating the painted area.

The Clippers are still in a perilous situation and they need every help they can get, but if there is anything they have proven so far, it’s that they are not backing down no matter what the situation is for them.

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Bucks vs. Hawks: Lou Williams does his best Trae Young impersonation to lead Atlanta to Game 4 win - CBS Sports

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A few months ago, after he was traded from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Atlanta Hawks in one of the more surprising deadline deals, Lou Williams was so upset that he considered retirement. On Tuesday night, he stepped up and delivered a clutch performance to bring the Hawks within two games of the NBA Finals. 

Shortly before Game 4, the Hawks announced that Trae Young would be out due to a bone bruise in his foot that he suffered in bizarre fashion by stepping on a referee's foot in Game 3. Williams took his place, and in the first playoff start of his career put up 21 points, five rebounds and eight assists on 7 of 9 from the field. With the veteran leading the way, the Hawks secured a 110-88 win over the Milwaukee bucks to tie the Eastern Conference finals at 2-2. 

"When we saw in our starting five that we had Lou Williams, we were super confident man," Bogdan Bogdanovic said. "You see what that man can do? He was thinking about retirement this year? Man, he can still hoop."

Giannis Antetokounmpo's knee injury will understandably be the main topic of discussion in the coming days, but that wasn't the only reason the Hawks won this game. Remember, they largely dominated the first half and were still up by 10 points when Giannis left the game for good. 

Much of the Hawks' success was driven by Williams, who submitted not only his best playoff game of this current run, but one of the best of his career. In the first three games of the ECF combined, Williams had only scored 13 points on 4 of 14 from the field. He had that many points by halftime in Game 4. 

Williams isn't Trae Young. He doesn't have the same quickness -- at least not at this stage in his career -- or range on his jumper. But he does have a similar skillset and found success in similar ways to Young as he operated as the focal point of the Hawks' offense for large stretches. Overall, he either scored or assisted on 15 of the Hawks' 43 made field goals (34.8 percent). 

Scoring

Like Young, Williams is comfortable operating in the pick and roll, and we saw him take advantage of the Bucks' drop coverage to hit more than a few open jumpers. The three-time Sixth Man of the Year has made a living hitting shots just like this. 

He also showed off a nice floater of his own. 

And even got a defender up in the air on a jumper as if to put the finishing touches on his Young impersonation. 

Playmaking

Williams has always been more of a scorer, but he has some playmaking skills as well, and put them to work early and often in this game. He finished with eight assists -- the most in a playoff game for him since 2019 -- and arguably was unlucky not to hit double figures. 

He was driving and dishing to open shooters on the perimeter. 

And again, just like Young, was carving the Bucks up in the pick-and-roll with lobs to his bigs. 

Young's status for Game 5 and moving forward is still unclear, and it goes without saying that the Hawks will want him back. But if he's unable to go, Williams proved that he's willing and able to take his place. 

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Wimbledon organizers 'happy' with court conditions as Serena Williams and Adrian Mannarino suffer slips - CNN International

World No. 60 Nick Kyrgios, meanwhile, complained that the courts are "too slow."

Mannarino was forced to retire against Roger Federer after slipping in the fourth set and injuring his knee, while Williams appeared to slip and hurt herself during a return in the first set against Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

After receiving medical attention, Williams then buckled at the baseline midway through a point and gingerly walked off the court in tears, later saying she had a right leg injury.

"Brutal for @serenawilliams but centre court is extremely slippy ... Not easy to move out there," tweeted two-time Wimbledon winner Andy Murray, who had played on the tournament's main show court on Monday.

Federer, who reached the second round through Mannarino's retirement, learned of Williams' injury during his press conference.

"It feels a tad more slippery maybe under the roof, I don't know if it's a gut feel," he told reporters.

"You do have to move very, very carefully out there, and if you push too hard in the wrong moments, you do go down ... this is obviously terrible. I don't think it plays very different but again I'm also moving carefully."

Federer, who is bidding to win a ninth title at Wimbledon, will face two-time semifinalist Richard Gasquet in the second round.

Following the two incidents, which happened just an hour apart, the All England Lawn Tennis Club said in a statement to CNN: "The preparation of the grass courts has been to exactly the same meticulous standard as in previous years.

"Each grass court is checked by the Grand Slam Supervisors, Referee's Office and Grounds team ahead of play commencing, and on both days of the Fortnight they have been happy with the conditions and cleared the courts for play.

"The weather conditions on the opening two days have been the wettest we have experienced in almost a decade, which has required the roof to be closed on Centre Court and No.1 Court for long periods.

"This is at a time when the grass plant is at its most lush and green, which does result in additional moisture on what is a natural surface."

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Kyrgios, a man never afraid to speak his mind on the tennis court, had a separate complaint about the grass.

During his match against Ugo Humbert, which was suspended with the score poised at 6-4 4-6 3-6 6-1 3-3, Kyrgios said into a courtside camera: "Guys, for you watching at home, it should be fast in here ... They've made it slow. This isn't grass anymore."

Kyrgios' match against Humbert will conclude on court number one on Wednesday.

CNN's David Close contributed to reporting.

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Dak Prescott declines to state his vaccine status, says it’s a personal decision for everyone - NBC Sports

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Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott declined to state whether he was received a vaccine for COVID-19 and said that he wouldn’t push teammates one way or another with their decisions when it comes to the subject.

“For me I think it’s important just for everybody to educate themselves on the reason of why to get vaccinated and why it can either help in their cause or maybe help the world,” Prescott said in an interview with Newy Scruggs of NBC DFW.

Vaccines are the tool that is helping the country get back to some semblance of normal. When it comes to the football season, players that have been fully vaccinated will have more “normal” available to them than teammates who don’t. And from a competitive aspect, the idea that you would pass on taking an option that would keep you from missing games would seem to be a fairly simple choice to make, especially when considering how much professional athletes do to keep themselves in peak shape otherwise.

But there is a line for the NFL and teams to walk when it comes to just how vigorously they are trying to get their players inoculated. Prescott said he would leave that decision-making process up to each of his teammates to decide for themselves.

“But it’s not necessarily something I’d like to share or something I’d like to promote or say ‘hey, you should, you shouldn’t,'” Prescott said. “Because when you’re putting in a vaccination obviously you’re putting something that’s foreign that obviously the experts put together and made the decision that that’s the best way to go about it, but it’s all up to your belief and I’m not the one to try to move people and tell them, ‘hey, you need to do this, you need to do that’ because we all react individual to everything.”

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Joachim Low disappointed after Germany’s 2-0 loss to England in the Euro 2020 round of 16 - Bavarian Football Works

It wasn’t exactly a swan song for Joachim Low as Germany crashed out of the European Championships by virtue of a 2-0 loss to England at Wembley thanks to goals from Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane. The odds were always going to be in England’s favor playing in front of 45,000 fans at Wembley, predominantly comprised of England fans, but Germany went out swinging in what was Low’s final competitive match in charge of Die Mannschaft before Hansi Flick takes over for him.

For larger portions, especially in the first half, Germany created their chances and had England on their heels. Timo Werner had a decent chance in the first half, and Kai Havertz forced an excellent save from Jordan Pickford midway through the second half. In moments, the intensity was there from Germany, and speaking after the match, Low rued his side not making the most of the chances that they created (Tz). “It’s a big disappointment for all of us, the belief in the team was absolutely there. Unfortunately, we didn’t take our chances — now we’re out. We’ve worked hard the last four weeks, the guys have pulled along well,” he explained.

Gareth Southgate’s decision to introduce Jack Grealish for Bukayo Saka in the 69th minute proved to be a game changer and the Aston Villa skipper was involved in the buildup for Sterling’s goal in the 75th minute. Shortly after the deadlock was broken, Thomas Muller missed a 1v1 chance, capitalizing on a sloppy giveaway from Sterling and drifting beyond John Stones and Harry Maguire. He pulled his shot wide of the far post. For Low, that was a defining moment of the match that really could’ve changed the complexion; “Normally, Thomas makes that. It’s difficult to talk about everything immediately after the game. At the moment, all the players are in a dead silence. Everyone is extremely disappointed.”

Photo by Robin Jones/Getty Images

As was the case for the 2-2 draw against Hungary, and for parts of the group stage opener vs. France, Low felt that his side lacked the proper creativity in attack. Southgate had made the decision to start Stones, Maguire, Kyle Walker, Luke Shaw, and Kieran Trippier in what was a back five, but at times, a back three with two wingers. Low felt that his side found that deeper block hard to break down. “We lacked a bit of penetrating power up front. We still had two great chances. We are very disappointed. [Serge] Gnabry and [Leroy] Sané didn’t show what they can do. They are actually good players,” he said.

Low brought on Jamal Musiala in the 92nd minute, so there wasn’t much that the 18-year old could do to try and make a meaningful impact like he did in the draw against Hungary. Low insisted that the decision to wait so long to bring him on was because his fitness isn’t exactly where people think it might be based on how positive he was against Hungary, helping create Leon Goretzka’s all important goal; “He’s not as far along as some people think after one game, either. We lacked cleverness, the team still needs to grow up. We have developed a good team spirit. The stamina was missing.”

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Joachim Low disappointed after Germany’s 2-0 loss to England in the Euro 2020 round of 16 - Bavarian Football Works
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