INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Milwaukee Bucks will be without injured All-Stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard when their playoff series resumes Sunday night at Indiana.
Both were officially listed as out for a pivotal Game 4 on Sunday's injury report.
Neither participated in the team's morning shootaround though Antetokounmpo did a personal workout that coach Doc Rivers deemed promising. Rivers also declined to rule out either Lillard and Antetokounmpo for the rest of the series.
“I think there's a chance for him to play (against Indiana), I really do,” Rivers said during his pregame news conference before addressing Lillard. “We're not shutting him down.”
Antetokounmpo has missed the first three games in this best-of-seven first round series and has not played since straining his left calf April 9. Rivers said Saturday that he “doubted” the two-time league MVP would be cleared to play.
The Pacers lead the series 2-1.
Still there were promising signs Sunday.
“It went well, he's moving, he's running now with no resistance,” Rivers said of Antetokounmpo. “So those are all good signs.”
Lillard joined the injury list following Friday night’s 121-118 overtime loss in Game 3. He twisted his left knee in the first quarter, went to the locker room and then injured his Achilles tendon in the waning minutes of regulation. He finished the game with 28 points and eight assists but only scored two points, both on free throws, in the final 10 minutes of action.
Rivers said after the game that Lillard said he lacked his typical explosiveness late in the game. Lillard had a protective walking boot covering his right foot while walking through the team hotel Saturday.
Rivers told reporters the team was awaiting MRI results before making a decision about Lillard’s status but that it was “not looking good.”
Milwaukee is trying to even up the series and avoid a second straight first-round exit in the postseason.
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Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard (0) grabs his leg after being injured during the first half in Game 2 against the Indiana Pacers in an NBA basketball first-round playoff series, Friday, April 26, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo cheers from the bench during the first half in Game 2 against the Indiana Pacers in an NBA basketball first-round playoff series, Friday, April 26, 2024, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
With Donald Trump barred from publicly attacking the key witness in his hush money trial, his campaign brought to court a phalanx of Republican elected officials to speak for him.
“The thing that the president is prevented from saying, which is a disgrace, is that every single person involved in this prosecution is practically a Democratic political operative,” U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio said outside the courthouse Monday during a morning break.
Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen took the stand on Monday to allege that the former president instructed him to silence stories that could have hurt his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump, who is balancing the demands of a felony trial with his third run for the White House, has been prohibited by a judge's gag order from criticizing witnesses and already fined for violating the restrictions.
Bringing allies to court allowed Trump's campaign to press his message without violating the gag order. It also gave those allies a high-profile platform to demonstrate loyalty to their party's presumptive nominee and perhaps audition for higher office.
According to Trump’s campaign, all of his courthouse guests Monday volunteered to appear to support the former president and were not explicitly invited by people affiliated with the campaign. But U.S. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who was at court with Trump last week, said Monday that he had been invited by Susie Wiles, a senior adviser to Trump's campaign and also a longtime Florida GOP operative who advised Scott's 2010 gubernatorial bid.
“I went because President Trump’s a friend," Scott said. "I’ve known him longer than I’ve been in politics.”
Vance, widely seen as a contender to be Trump's vice presidential pick, was part of a group that arrived at court with Trump and stood behind him as he addressed reporters before heading into the courtroom. It was the biggest single showing of the allies joining Trump in court for the hush money trial since it began last month.
Others in Monday's group included Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York, and a pair of attorneys general, Steve Marshall of Alabama and Brenna Bird of Iowa. Former GOP rival Vivek Ramaswamy, who shuttered his campaign earlier this year but is considered a likely part of a new Trump administration, planned to come to court on Tuesday, according to a spokesman for the entrepreneur.
Vance was once a harsh critic who said he “can’t stomach Trump" and called him “noxious.” Now, he is a close ally who will appear with Trump at an Ohio fundraiser on Wednesday, when the trial will be on break.
Vance posted a thread on the X social platform as he headed to court with the former president, including a missive from the courtroom questioning Cohen’s believability: “Cohen can’t remember how old his son is or how old he was when he started to work for Trump but I’m sure he remembers extremely small details from years ago!”
He also leveled criticism directly at the daughter of Judge Juan M. Merchan, who is overseeing the case. The gag order pertaining to Trump prohibits his critical comments about people affiliated with the case — except for Merchan and District Attorney Alvin Bragg — as well as Merchan's family members.
Merchan’s daughter is a political consultant whose firm has worked for Democrats.
Outside court with Vance, Tuberville on Monday questioned the citizenship of the jurors, suggesting there were “supposedly American citizens in that courtroom,” and portrayed Bragg as a publicity-seeker.
He described Trump as “going through mental anguish in a courtroom. That's very depressing.”
There have been one-off supportive trial appearances already, when allies including Scott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton came to court with Trump. Both Scott and Paxton have been through legal troubles of their own, and have railed against what they call politically motivated prosecutions — a message that echoes Trump’s own.
Scott's appearance came on another pivotal day in the case, as porn actor Stormy Daniels testified about her alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump.
Outside the courthouse, Scott said Merchan's daughter is “a political operative and raises money for Democrats" — a criticism prohibited for Trump himself by his gag order, which bans him from making or directing others to make public statements about people connected to the case, including the judge’s family. Scott denied his presence had anything specifically to do with the gag order.
Paxton did not speak publicly when he joined Trump last week, but he gave interviews later to Fox Business and Newsmax about the trial, calling it “perversion of justice.”
Trump’s attorneys have argued against the gag order, saying the former president should be allowed to respond to Daniels’ testimony, but Merchan has refused a request to modify it.
Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP
Kinnard reported from Columbia, South Carolina. Jill Colvin in New York and Stephany Matat in West Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., speaks at a press conference across the street from the Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., left and Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, right arrive at a press conference across the street from the Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 13, 2024, in New York. Trump was accompanied to court Monday by some of his top congressional surrogates, including Vance and Tuberville. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., speaks at a press conference across the street from the Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 13, 2024, in New York. Trump was accompanied to court Monday by some of his top congressional surrogates, including U.S. Sens. Tuberville and JD Vance of Ohio. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a press conference across the street from the Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 13, 2024, in New York. Trump was accompanied to court Monday by some of his top congressional surrogates, including U.S. Sens. Vance and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
American author and politician J. D. Vance (C) enters the courtroom for the criminal trial of former US President Donald Trump at New York State Supreme Court in New York, New York, USA, 13 May 2024. (Sarah Yenesel/Pool Photo via AP)
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y.,right arrives with Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., left and Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, right, to a press conference across the street from the Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 13, 2024, in New York. Trump was accompanied to court Monday by some of his top congressional surrogates. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, left, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., second from left, and Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y.,right, wait in the hallway outside the courtroom for the arrival of former President Donald Trump at Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool)
American author and politician J. D. Vance (C) watches as former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters with his lawyer Todd Blanche at Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 13, 2024, in New York. (Sarah Yenesel/Pool Photo via AP)
