Milwaukee Bucks All-Star level guard Damian Lillard has been cleared of his deep vein thrombosis and is now not on blood-thinning treatment, in keeping with ESPN’s Shams Charania on Thursday.
Simply three weeks after being dominated out indefinitely attributable to blood clots, Lillard obtained exceptional and historic medical information by clearing the clot so shortly due to early detection and remedy.
Whereas Lillard received’t play in Saturday’s Recreation 1 towards the Indiana Pacers, the Bucks guard could have a time period to ramp up contact exercises forward of a return to basketball. No fast timeline has been set for his return.
I’m no physician, however leaving basketball out of this, it looks as if a serious win for Lillard. As a fan of basketball, we’ve seen Chris Bosh need to retire due to blood clots. The same well being scare minimize quick the promising Defensive Participant of the Yr marketing campaign of younger phenom Victor Wembanyama this season as effectively.
It’s a exceptional win to get Lillard again on the ground usually. However in three weeks? That’s phenomenal work by everybody concerned.
On the courtroom, there’s no denying that the Bucks will want Lillard’s providers sooner somewhat than later. With out Lillard, Milwaukee was a powerful 16-8. When the information of those blood clots surfaced, many had written the Bucks off for useless in a top-heavy Japanese Convention.
Milwaukee drew a tremendously tough first-round matchup with the Pacers, who’re among the best offensive groups within the Japanese Convention. Fueled by level guard Tyrese Haliburton, the Pacers can flat-out run the ground and put the ball within the basket at an extremely fast clip, so Lillard’s offensive prowess shall be wanted.
In keeping with FanDuel Sportsbook, the Bucks are a slight +140 underdog to get out of the primary spherical. It’s anticipated to be probably the most aggressive first-round sequence within the East. In the event that they do escape the high-scoring Pacers, they’ll seemingly have a convention semifinals date with the Cleveland Cavaliers — who completed the season because the No. 1 seed within the East with the No. 1 offense within the NBA.
Lillard was averaging practically 25 factors per recreation earlier than being dominated out. He averaged simply over seven assists per recreation as effectively. The Bucks will definitely welcome all of that, as Giannis Antetokounmpo will want his Robin wholesome and accessible to ensure that the Bucks to have actually any probability within the NBA Playoffs this season.
Nationally, the narrative surrounding the Japanese Convention has been all in regards to the Cavaliers, Boston Celtics and New York Knicks. It’s superb that Lillard is even medically accessible to offer it a go, as a result of the Bucks may want one other miracle out of him to make noise on this postseason.
