The Milwaukee Bucks went up 3-0 in their first round series with the Miami Heat following their 113-84 Game 3 victory Thursday night, but it came at a cost.
Donte DiVincenzo left midway through the second quarter of the Bucks’ rout Game 3 after suffering a non-contact injury. First reported by The Athletic’s Shams Charania Friday morning, DiVincenzo will miss the rest of the postseason due to suffering a tendon injury in his left foot.
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It’s obviously a crushing blow for the Bucks that have gotten off to such a hot start and now will be without a key rotation player and their fifth starter.
That’s in spite of the clear struggles that DiVincenzo has experienced on the offensive end as he’s averaging 2.7 points on 3-for-16 shooting from the field (2-for-12 from deep), 6.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists across his three playoff appearances
Despite that, the Bucks have thrived off of DiVincenzo’s energy and hustle, which bests manifests itself when attacking the glass. That rebounding presence that DiVincenzo brings, especially from a player of his position, surely contributed to the dominance we’ve seen the Bucks play at over the Heat.
The Milwaukee Bucks will be without a key rotation piece in Donte DiVincenzo.
Where the Bucks go now to replace DiVincenzo in the starting lineup is the big questions and there’s a couple of options that they will surely look at.
First, there’s Bryn Forbes, who has surely given the Bucks quite the sharpshooter around their core four players. There’s also Pat Connaughton, who offers up a similar skill set to that of DiVincenzo and Connaughton has also come out firing by shooting 8-of-15 from beyond the arc (53.3 percent) across this first round series against the Heat.
Lastly, P.J. Tucker is bound to see his minutes go up within the Bucks’ rotation, especially as Milwaukee starts to look ahead to what waits for them in the Conference Semifinals. Whether that pushes up Tucker into the starting lineup remains to be seen, but with the Brooklyn Nets likely waiting for the Bucks next round, Tucker’s importance only grows from here for Milwaukee.
The Bucks will surely be tested by losing DiVincenzo as we wait to see how their guard and backcourt rotation changes moving forward. It will also test DiVincenzo, especially as this playoff run served as a big test case for how the Bucks would value him ahead of being eligible for a rookie-scale extension this summer.
All of that makes a terrible situation for all parties, especially DiVincenzo. The Bucks will surely find ways not to feel DiVincenzo’s absence as their playoff run continues, but they will feel it one way or another as the tests grow that much bigger.