Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers revealed Giannis Antetokounmpo needed stitches after having a cut in his right little finger in Monday night’s NBA win at Toronto Raptors, Afrosport reports.
Antetokounmpo hit his finger on the rim as he was chasing RJ Barrett’s fast-break dunk towards the end of the first half.
The Greek Freak was able finish with a triple double of 11 points, 13 assists and 12 rebounds as the Bucks won 128-104 at Scotiabank Arena.
Giannis played down the severity of the injury but Rivers revealed that it bothered the power toward.
“Yeah, he needed stitches and he didn’t want to come out because he felt like he could finish, but it kept bleeding,” the former Boston Celtics coach said per the NBA website.
He added: “He definitely was effective, but you could see it really hurt his ball handling a little bit. I got to tell you, he set a tone, started the game with his passing.
“I mean, you know, it’s funny. We are talking about how well he passed, but I thought that just set the whole tone to our team. And when your best player does that, it becomes contagious.”
“I got some stitches in my finger. I told my wife. My wife’s still with me. She still likes me.”
Giannis feels great. 😂 pic.twitter.com/bg6bwxqKAU
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) January 7, 2025
Antetokounmpo played just a little over 18 minutes in the first half and 34 seconds in the third before sitting out the entire fourth quarter.
The 30-year-old is this season’s leading NBA scorer with an average of 31.6 points per game. His 59 points in the 127-120 win over the Detroit Pistons is the second highest points scored by a player in a game this season behind De’Aaron Fox’s 60 points in the Sacramento Kings’ 126-120 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Bucks will next play San Antonio Spurs at Fiserv Forum on Wednesday night.
