Giannis Antikonmo does not practice. Dollars are still “optimistic” for the second group

“We have more than 24 hours before the game,” Bodenholzer said on Tuesday. “He’ll get treatment, and we’ll see how he feels. There’s been a lot of progress and hopefully there will be more in the next day or so.”

Antetokounmpo is suffering from a bruise on his lower back after he fell to the ground heading into Heat forward Kevin Love in Game 1 on Sunday. He played only 11 minutes before being ruled out of the match.

However, with no structural damage to his back and an extra day between games to recover, Budenholzer said he was still encouraged that Antetokounmpo would be able to play in Game 2.

“There is optimism,” Budenholzer said. “Time is a little bit on our side, but that equation is going to flip. But yeah, I would say we’re optimistic.”

Bucks forward Jay Crowder expressed his coach’s optimism, saying that Antetokounmpo did not suffer a serious injury after falling from the air on Sunday.

“He had a really bad fall,” Crowder said after practice on Tuesday. “The word won’t apologize to you. It’s one of those things once we get up in the air as athletes, but luckily it wasn’t as bad as we thought. I’m definitely glad about that.”

Game 2 between the Heat and Bucks takes place in Milwaukee on Wednesday night, so Antetokounmpo still has a chance to hit the field and test his injured back before 9 p.m. EST.

“It will be the everyday things that tell him what he can do,” Budenholzer said of Antetokounmpo’s next steps. “On the court, move around a little bit, shoot a little bit, do some defensive stuff and he’ll get ready for the basketball game.” So we’ll just see how it goes the next day. “