Khris Middleton leaves Bucks game against Suns with left ankle injury
PHOENIX – Milwaukee Bucks all-star forward Khris Middleton walked out of the Footprint Center late Tuesday night in a walking boot with the aid of crutches after spraining his left ankle halfway through the first quarter of the Bucks' 114-106 loss to the Phoenix Suns.
On the positive side, Bucks head coach Doc River said X-rays were negative.
It was a big loss for the Bucks, who began the game without Damian Lillard (sprained ankle) and Brook Lopez (personal reasons).
"Just a tough blow," Rivers said of losing Middleton. "Having him and Dame and Brook out takes a lot of the floor. I thought we fought, hung in there. You knew at some point, you just felt at some point we wouldn't have enough offense on the floor. And that's probably what happened. I thought defensively we were really good tonight."
Middleton injured the foot at the 6:08 mark when he pulled up for a long jump shot over Suns forward Kevin Durant, and then Middleton came down on Durant's foot. Middleton was in clear pain after the play, lying on the court for a few moments before gingerly getting up and walking to the Bucks bench as the play was reviewed.
It was determined that Durant encroached in Middleton's landing area and was assessed a Flagrant 1 foul.
Middleton stayed in the game, made 1 of 2 free throws and played the next couple minutes – but he passed up an open three-pointer just before Rivers called timeout. During the break Middleton headed to the locker room with 3:57 seconds to go in the first quarter.
"How many games to the all-star break? Five. I've played without Khris for a whole season," Giannis Antetokounmpo said. "Five games, it's OK. He's going to be fine. Five games, that probably means eight to 10 days, then he has the all-star break, then he has seven days. So he's going to have 15-17 days. Maybe he can take the first game; he has 20 days. We're going to be fine. He's going to be back, he's going to be healthy. He's going to be back to playing great basketball. We are there to support him but he's going to be fine. I know Khris."
In eight minutes of action before his injury, Middleton scored six points, had three rebounds, one assist and one steal. Middleton had only missed one other game due to injury, which was for Achilles soreness on Nov. 26. The other games he's sat out were on back-to-backs.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Khris Middleton leaves Bucks game against Suns with left ankle injury
