The Milwaukee Bucks were unable to string together an elusive second straight win on Friday, falling to the Philadelphia 76ers by a score of 116-101 at home. It was Milwaukee’s first game since losing Giannis Antetokounmpo for the near future due to a calf strain suffered in Wednesday’s win at Detroit. 

Not only did the Bucks lose the game on Friday night, they lost another member of their starting lineup to an injury that doesn’t exactly appear to be minor. AJ Green left the game in the first half with a shoulder injury that occurred while he was attempting to set a screen and was ruled out for the remainder of the contest.

Following the game, coach Doc Rivers did his best to provide an update on Green’s prognosis and explained that he would be getting an MRI in Detroit, where the Bucks are scheduled to face the Pistons on Saturday.

“Don't know how bad it is,” Rivers said. “It's a shoulder. Which isn't great. We'll do an MRI tomorrow, and we'll find out. He's gonna come with us and we're gonna do the MRI in Detroit.”

Rivers also explained how the loss of Green puts the Bucks in an even more daunting position than they already were after losing Antetokounmpo, especially with a 10-14 record and a potentially looming trade request from the franchise centerpeice. 

“Without Giannis, Our margins are very small every game,” Rivers said.”Losing AJ Green hurts. We can't sustain much more, especially with guys that make shots, but it is what it is. You still got to figure out a way of winning games.”

Absent From The Bench

Antetokounmpo wasn’t on the bench for Friday’s game, which prompted some further speculation about his reported trade request that may or may not have happened. Doc Rivers explained that while Giannis wasn’t there on Friday and won’t be there Saturday, it’s entirely related to his recovery and the team expects he’ll be at most road games and all home games.

“Yeah, he’s doing rehab,” Rivers said. “He won’t travel tomorrow, but he will travel most of the time. Our thing is, especially because this just happened, you know with the blood flow and all the flights and all that stuff, keep him home. 

“After tomorrow, we have a four-day break. We're gonna take two days off, which I think they need. Then we have two great days of practice, which I'm looking forward to.”