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Michael Redd will be out at least two weeks with a strained tendon in his knee. The Bucks star say it's not severe and no surgery will be required.
Milwaukee, WI (Sports Network) Andrew Bogut poured in 27 points and grabbed nine rebounds, as the Milwaukee Bucks outlasted the Portland Trail Blazers, 108-101, in a double-overtime thriller at the Bradley Center.
Luke Ridnour added 20 points off the bench for the Bucks, who had lost five in a row to Portland prior to Saturday. Brandon Jennings tallied 18 points and 11 assists, Ersan Ilyasova had 11 points and eight rebounds and Michael Redd chipped in 11 points for Milwaukee, which has won two in a row following a four-game skid.
LaMarcus Aldridge ended with 31 points and 11 rebounds for the Blazers, who ended a four-game road trip with a 1-3 mark. Brandon Roy added 23 points, eight rebounds, and six assists, while Martell Webster chipped in 16 points for Portland, which has still won 14 of the past 21 matchups between the clubs.
After each team traded a pair of free throws to start the second overtime, Ridnour made a jumper to give Milwaukee a 99-97 edge. Aldridge missed a layup before Carlos Delfino drilled a three-pointer for a 102-97 Bucks lead.
Roy’s two foul shots had the Blazers within 104-101 with one minute to play. Jennings then made a driving layup with 42.4 seconds left for a five-point lead, and Ridnour drilled two free throws following two three-point misses for Portland to seal the game.
Bogut’s layup to start the first overtime put the Bucks ahead 89-87. However, Portland ripped off eight straight points — six from Aldridge — to take a 95-89 lead with 2:42 left.
Milwaukee didn’t back down, though, scoring the final six points of the first extra session to deadlock the game at 95. Jennings’ seven-foot jumper with 4.9 seconds remaining tied the tilt. Roy missed an 12-foot jumper at the other end to send the contest into a second OT.
The Bucks led, 69-59, heading to the fourth quarter.
Webster’s slam and four straight points by Andre Miller had the Blazers within 73-67 just over 2 1/2 minutes into the fourth.
Miller topped off a small 5-0 spurt with 1-of-2 from the foul line to cut Portland’s gap to 78-74 with 3:50 to play in regulation.
Down by seven moments later, the Blazers scored six straight points. Aldridge’s 16-foot jumper ended the spurt and got Portland within 83-82 with 1:17 remaining.
Bogut extended the Bucks’ lead to three with a hook shot with 38.5 seconds to go, but Aldridge responded with a three-point play at the other end to deadlock the game at 85 with 33.5 ticks left.
Jennings then made a floater in the lane with 19.6 seconds remaining to give Milwaukee a two-point lead; Roy then made a nice fadeaway jumper at the opposite end to tie the contest at 87 with 12.8 ticks to play.
Following a timeout, Jennings missed a 14-foot jumper. Bogut tipped the ball in the hoop off the rebound, but the refs reviewed the play and it was determined the tip came after time had expired, sending the game to overtime.
Milwaukee led, 21-16, after one quarter, but Portland came back to take a 44-39 lead at halftime.
Redd returned to the lineup after missing seven consecutive games due to a knee injury…The Bucks shot 49.5 percent from the floor, while the Blazers made 40.2 percent of their shots…Milwaukee went 10-of-17 from the foul line, while Portland went 21-of-29 from the charity stripe.
Michael Redd is ready to come back from his knee injury, again, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:
Michael Redd is ready to try again.
This time the Milwaukee Bucks' 30-year-old shooting guard believes he is fully recovered from a left patella tendon strain, an injury he suffered in the second game of the season Oct. 31.
He missed nine games and briefly attempted a comeback in late November, but he lacked explosiveness and found it hard to jump. Redd went back on the inactive list for the last seven games.
But he will play off the bench in the Bucks' home game Saturday night against Portland after going through a full practice Friday at the Cousins Center.
If Redd can work his way back to his former self, the back court tandem of Redd and Brandon Jennings could be scary and bring an excitement back to a Bucks franchise that hasn't had much to cheer about in a while.
Charlie Bell is the lucky guy that will benefit from Michael Redd’s injury. Bell will start in Redd’s absence Tuesday:
Charlie Bell will start for the injured Michael Redd Tuesday night in Chicago and Bell said that he would need to hit some shots and make it easier for Bogut inside.
“There’s going to be a lot of pressure on Andrew and I think I need to be one of those guys on the offensive end that’s going to have to step up and try to make things happen," said Bell.
Milwaukee's Michael Redd will miss at least two weeks with a strained tendon in his knee, but much to his and the team's relief, further tests did not reveal any tears. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports:
"It's not severe," Redd said. "Good news. I just aggravated an old knee injury I had couple years ago. I'm going to Chicago today to check it out with my doctor, but the MRI showed up pretty positive.
"I'll wait until the swelling goes down, and I'l be back out there playing. We knew that was in there from the (anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament) surgery, but we didn't touch it. They didn't clean that out."
Redd vowed not to dunk the ball because of the injuries he has suffered while dunking. He also suffered a left patella tendon strain during the 2006-'07 season when he went up for a dunk late in a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
"No more dunks, unless I'm on two feet," Redd said. "This is all basic instinct. I had the steal, and Tayshaun has the reputation of getting you from behind. I just had to finish.
Of course, that pledge didn't last long, and sure enough, he injured himself against on (you guessed it!) a dunk:
"After I dunked, I felt it. It was encouraging that I kept playing. We just want to be smart about it. We've got 80 games left." Redd stayed in the game before going out with 1:20 left in the quarter. But he said he knew something was wrong.
Milwaukee went 3-17 without Redd last season, but this year they should be more equipped to handle their superstar's absence. Brandon Jennings has been stellar so far for Milwaukee, leading the Bucks in scoring so far this year. And while Redd will surely be missed, the 2-3 weeks that he's expected to need for recovery pale in comparison to the months that would have been required had he torn one of his tendons.
But Michael, when you get back on the court: NO DUNKING! For real this time.
Michael Redd To Miss Rest Of Season With Torn ACL And MCL
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that Bucks guard Michael Redd will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL and MCL in his left knee.
If this sounds familiar, well, it should. Nearly one year ago to the day, Redd suffered the exact same injury and missed the remainder of the 2008-09 season. Earlier this year, Redd missed nine games after he strained a patella tendon in the same knee trying to dunk the ball. I think it’s pretty fair to slap the “injury-prone” label on Redd at this point.
When Redd went out last year, the Bucks bottomed out without him and missed the playoffs. They should fare better this time around, if only because of the presence of rookie Brandon Jennings and the fact that they have played most of the season without Redd.
However, Redd’s injury brings some interesting long-term complications to the table. Despite his injury problems, Redd is making over $17 million dollars this season, among the highest salaries in the league. He has a player option for next year for $18.3 million. Had Redd recovered and displayed his skills this season, he might have considered opting out of that final year in order to secure one more long-term contract, even if it was for less money. But since he’s now hurt again, there’s no way Redd passes on over $18 million of guaranteed money.
With Redd’s salary on the books in 2010-11, the Bucks will have significantly less flexibility next year. They will have nearly $50 million committed to just nine players, and will have to fill their roster while avoiding the luxury tax, which is expected to come down to around $65-68 million this year. Had Redd stayed healthy and opted out, Milwaukee could have joined the 2010 sweepstakes.
Instead, they’re likely stuck with Redd’s humongous contract for at least one more year. That hurts.
Jan 11 4:23p by Mike Prada - 0 comments