A collective sigh of relief just leveled a significant portion of the Kettle Moraine State Forest.
Good news everyone!
Giannis' ankle injury isn't serious and there's a chance he'll play tonight vs Kings
— Gery Woelfel (@GeryWoelfel) December 18, 2014That's a relief. There were encouraging words shortly after Giannis went down with the nasty-looking ankle injury--he was doing some running at halftime and had the ankle re-taped but was ultimately held out of the second half of the Bucks' 104-97 loss in Portland. Still, you can't blame any Bucks fan who was bracing for the worst.
Giannis will be re-evaluated before tip on Thursday and should probably be considered very questionable for the matchup with Sacramento. Holding him out would be primarily a precautionary move--he's not using a protective boot or crutches, but there's always a risk for more severe injury when talking about ankles.
If Giannis misses the game, the Bucks' will really be hurting for size, which is saying something for a team that currently counts Larry Sanders and Zaza Pachulia as its only healthy bigs. That's a scary thought considering the Kings expect to have DeMarcus Cousinsavailable for the first time since November 26.