Bucks withstand Antetokounmpo's injury to beat Celtics 104-91. Teams combined for record-low 2 FTs

MILWAUKEE (AP) — On the night they finally snapped their four-game skid, the Milwaukee Bucks encountered an entirely different reason for worry.

Their two-time MVP is hurt.

Giannis Antetokounmpo strained his left calf late Tuesday in the third quarter of the Bucks' 104-91 victory over the Boston Celtics, who became the first team in NBA history to not shoot a free throw on a night the teams combined for a record-low two attempts.

Bucks coach Doc Rivers said after the game that Antetokounmpo was undergoing an MRI on his calf and also would have his Achilles tendon tested. Rivers was asked about his concern level.

“High, I would say that,” Rivers said. “He's Giannis. I think everyone probably feels the same way as I do right now. We're just going to hope for the best.”

Patrick Beverley had 20 points and 10 rebounds after the Bucks shook up their lineup by having the veteran guard start ahead of Malik Beasley, who came off the bench for the first time all season.

But that lineup change was overshadowed by Antetokounmpo's situation.

Antetokounmpo was heading up the court late in the third quarter after a Celtics basket when he grabbed his left calf and took a seat. He was helped off the floor, and cameras showed him heading to the locker room under his own power.

The Bucks said Antetokounmpo had a left soleus strain. The soleus is a muscle in the calf.

“Any time you see one of your teammates go down, it’s I think a real level of concern,” Bucks guard Damian Lillard said. “We spend a lot of time around each other, more than we would our families. I think that was the No. 1 thing. And then for it to be your best player, the most important part of our team, at this point in the season, it was like an, ‘Oh, (damn)’ moment, especially because there was nobody else around.”

Antetokounmpo had 15 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and he also attempted the game's only free throws. He went 1 of 2 from the line in the first quarter.

The previous record for fewest combined attempts in a game was 11.

“I didn't realize that until they told me just before I walked in,” Bucks center Brook Lopez said during his postgame availability. “It is weird, after the fact. I honestly didn't really catch it throughout the game. I didn't notice it.”

Milwaukee withstood Antetokounmpo's injury thanks to a blazing start that enabled the Bucks to take a 24-point lead in the first half.

“That was the first time where like the game wasn't going our way since I don't remember when, you know what I mean?” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “To me, that's a good opportunity, to play through that, find different ways to create runs, find different ways to just build stuff on either end of the floor. I thought it was a good situation for us to be in because we hadn't seen it in a while.”

Lopez and Bobby Portis scored 15 points apiece, and Lillard and Khris Middleton added 12 apiece. Portis also had 10 rebounds.

The Celtics, who already have clinched the NBA’s best regular-season record and No. 1 overall playoff seed, were playing without Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis. Horford was unavailable due to a sprained left big toe, and the Celtics are managing Porzingis’ workload after he missed five games last month with a sprained right hamstring.

Jayson Tatum scored 22 points to lead the Celtics. Jaylen Brown had 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Jrue Holiday had 12 points.

Lopez went 4 of 5 on 3-point attempts in the opening six minutes to set the tone for a first quarter in which the Bucks shot 14 of 18 overall and 8 of 10 from 3-point range.

UP NEXT

Celtics: Host the New York Knicks on Thursday.

Bucks: Host the Orlando Magic on Wednesday.

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Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers reacts to a call during the first half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Milwaukee Bucks' Malik Beasley knocks the ball from Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum during the first half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Boston Celtics' Payton Pritchard gets past Milwaukee Bucks' Damian Lillard during the first half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Boston Celtics' Jaylen Brown loses the ball in front of Milwaukee Bucks' Brook Lopez during the first half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum tries to get past Milwaukee Bucks' Bobby Portis during the first half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Boston Celtics' Jrue Holiday gets past Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo during the first half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo reacts during the first half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

PHOENIX (AP) — Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has relegated a Civil War-era ban on most abortions to the past by signing a bill Thursday to repeal it.

Hobbs says the move is just the beginning of a fight to protect reproductive health care in Arizona. The repeal of the 1864 law that the state Supreme Court recently reinstated won't take effect until 90 days after the legislative session ends, which typically happens in June or July.

Abortion rights advocates say they're hopeful a court will step in to prevent what could be a confusing landscape of access for girls and women across Arizona as laws are introduced and then reversed.

The effort to repeal the long-dormant law, which bans all abortions except those done to save a patient’s life, won final legislative approval Wednesday in a 16-14 vote of the Senate, as two GOP lawmakers joined with Democrats.

Hobbs denounced “a ban that was passed by 27 men before Arizona was even a state, at a time when America was at war over the right to own slaves, a time before women could even vote."

“This ban needs to be repealed, I said it in 2022 when Roe was overturned, and I said it again and again as governor,” Hobbs said during the bill signing.

In early April, Arizona's Supreme Court voted to restore the 1864 law that provided no exceptions for rape or incest and allows abortions only if the mother's life is in jeopardy. The majority opinion suggested doctors could be prosecuted and sentenced to up to five years in prison if convicted.

Democrats, who are the minority in the Legislature, struck back with the help of a handful of Republicans in the House and Senate to advance a repeal in a matter of weeks to Hobbs' desk.

A crowd of lawmakers — mostly women — joined in the signing ceremony with celebratory airs, including taking selfies and exchanging congratulations among Democrats.

The scene stood in sharp contrast to Wednesday's vote in the Senate that extended for hours as Republicans described their motivations in personal, emotional and even biblical terms — including graphic descriptions of abortion procedures and amplified audio recordings of a fetal heartbeat.

Meanwhile, across the country, an abortion rights initiative in South Dakota submitted far more signatures than required to make the ballot this fall. In Florida, a ban took effect against most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before many people even know they are pregnant.

In Arizona, once the repeal takes effect in the fall, a 2002 statute banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy will become the state's prevailing abortion law.

Whether the 1864 law will be enforced in the coming months depends on who is asked. The anti-abortion group defending the ban, Alliance Defending Freedom, maintains county prosecutors can begin enforcing it once the Supreme Court's decision becomes final, which hasn't yet occurred.

Planned Parenthood Arizona filed a motion Wednesday asking the court to prevent a pause in abortion services until the repeal takes effect. Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes has joined in that action.

The Supreme Court set deadlines next week for briefings on the motion.

On Thursday, former Democratic state Rep. Athena Salman celebrated approval of the repeal she initially proposed in 2019 — three years before Roe v. Wade was overturned.

Until then, Arizona's near-total abortion ban had been blocked because the U.S. Supreme Court decision guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion nationwide. Then-Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, swiftly made a case for enforcing the 1864 ban.

Still, the law hasn't been carried out because it was stuck in legal limbo until the Arizona Supreme Court weighed in.

Salman, who resigned in January to lead an abortion rights group, said she can’t stop thinking about what the repeal means for her daughters.

"Future generations will not have to live under the restrictions and the interference that we have had to experience,” she said.

Arizona Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, a Democrat who was key in repealing the ban, said she spent her early years on the Navajo Nation where her parents were schoolteachers and saw firsthand people being denied reproductive rights. The main health care option on the reservation is the Indian Health Service, which operates under the Hyde Amendment that bars the use of federal funding for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or threats to the patient's life.

She said she also watched her sister-in-law struggle with two difficult pregnancies that resulted in stillbirths.

“We have people who need reproductive care now,” Stahl Hamilton said.

President Joe Biden’s campaign team believes voters' anger over the fall of Roe v. Wade gave him the political advantage in battleground states like Arizona, where he beat former President Donald Trump by about 10,000 votes.

The issue has divided Republican leaders.

People in the gallery of the Arizona Senate on Wednesday jeered and interrupted Republican Lawmaker Shawnna Bolick as she explained her vote in favor of the repeal.

Republican lawmakers more broadly are considering putting one or more abortion proposals on the November ballot. Such efforts could compete with Democratic-backed efforts to enshrine abortion access in the state constitution — up until a fetus could survive outside the womb, typically around 24 weeks, with some exceptions — to save the patient's life, or to protect her physical or mental health.

Dr. Ronald Yunis, a Phoenix-based obstetrician-gynecologist who also provides abortions, called the repeal a positive development for patients who might otherwise leave Arizona for medical care.

“This is good for ensuring that women won’t have to travel to other states just to get the health care they need,” Yunis said. “I was not too concerned because I have a lot of confidence in our governor and attorney general. I’m certain they will continue finding ways to protect women.”

Ariz.. Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, takes a selfie with Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, after Hobbs signed the repeal of the Civil War-era near-total abortion ban to Thursday, May 2, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. Democrats secured enough votes in the Arizona Senate to repeal the ban on abortions that the state's highest court recently allowed to take effect. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, D, signs the repeal of the Civil War-era near-total abortion ban, Thursday, May 2, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. Democrats secured enough votes in the Arizona Senate to repeal the ban on abortions that the state's highest court recently allowed to take effect. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs signs the repeal of the Civil War-era near-total abortion ban, Thursday, May 2, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. Democrats secured enough votes in the Arizona Senate to repeal the ban on abortions that the state's highest court recently allowed to take effect. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Arizona Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton speaks prior to Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, signing the repeal of the Civil War-era near-total abortion ban, Thursday, May 2, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Arizona State Senator Anna Hernandez, D-District 24, speaks prior to Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs signing the repeal of the Civil War-era near-total abortion ban, Thursday, May 2, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. Democrats secured enough votes in the Arizona Senate to repeal the ban on abortions that the state's highest court recently allowed to take effect. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs smiles after signing the repeal of the Civil War-era near-total abortion ban, Thursday, May 2, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. Democrats secured enough votes in the Arizona Senate to repeal the ban on abortions that the state's highest court recently allowed to take effect. (AP Photo/Matt York)

FILE - The Arizona Senate building at the state Capitol stands, April 11, 2024, in Phoenix. Democrats at the Arizona Legislature are expected to make a final push Wednesday, May 1, to repeal the state’s long-dormant ban on nearly all abortions that a court said can be enforced. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

FILE - Pro-life demonstrators walk in the front of the Arizona Capitol prior to the vote on the proposed repeal of the state's near-total ban on abortions prior to winning approval from the state House on, April 24, 2024, in Phoenix. Democrats at the Arizona Legislature are expected to make a final push Wednesday, May 1, to repeal the state’s long-dormant ban on nearly all abortions that a court said can be enforced. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

Arizona state senator Shawnna Bolick, R-District 2, speaks, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Anti-abortion supporters stand outside the Capitol, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Democratic Arizona state senator Anna Hernandez, D-District 24, left, hugs a colleague after a their vote, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. Democrats secured enough votes in the Arizona Senate to repeal a Civil War-era ban on abortions that the state's highest court recently allowed to take effect. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Arizona state senator Jake Hoffman, R-District 15, speaks Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. Democrats secured enough votes in the Arizona Senate to repeal a Civil War-era ban on abortions that the state's highest court recently allowed to take effect. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Democratic Arizona state senators hug after a their vote, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Arizona state senator Eva Burch, D-District 9, looks on, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Arizona state senator J. D. Mesnard, R-District 13, plays audio of a heart beat from his cell phone, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Arizona state senator Jake Hoffman, R-District 15, motions as he speaks to the Senate President, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Arizona state senator Shawnna Bolick, R-District 2, speaks, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the Capitol in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)