How does Giannis’ injury affect the playoff picture?

The Bucks suffered their worst nightmare on Tuesday in Milwaukee, as Giannis Antetokounmpo went down with a non-contact injury against the Celtics.

The good news for the Bucks, at least for now, is that Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Wednesday that Giannis’ Achilles is still fully in tact, although there is no timetable for his return.

The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz discussed the implications of Giannis’ injury during Wednesday’s show.

Dan points out that as of late people have increasingly been asking what’s wrong with the Bucks, but it looked like things were maybe finally turning for Milwaukee on Tuesday as the Bucks were swamping the Celtics. And then Giannis got hurt. Dan says Giannis getting hurt just shows how fragile everything has been at the top of the Eastern Conference for the last five years between the Bucks, Celtics and Heat and who is going to take control of this conference. Dan doesn’t think anyone is better than Boston this year, even as he admits that he trusts Denver more in a series as the Joker has the ability to change EVERYTHING in a basketball game.

Dan says the legacy of the league and the storylines are all here in front of us in real-time as LEGENDS duke it out and Joel Embiid is fighting to get the 76ers back into the race because they all know that physically there’s no stopping the Greek Freak. Except when you’re talking about lower-body injuries. Dan says the Bucks have been built on a flimsy foundation all season and that is the one thing that you can’t have happen. Because, as Dan points out, even if Damian Lillard goes down, Giannis is someone who can drag the rest of your team into the Eastern Conference Finals on his back.

Jeremy says, depending on how the Play-In Tournament shakes out, that you could, have fascinating matchups for the first and second seeds. Boston could be facing either Miami or Philadelphia, as things currently stand, and those are teams you don’t necessarily want to go up against in the playoffs. The Celtics might not need to fear anybody, but Jeremy says you’d much rather play another team rather than those matchup nightmares in the first round. Meanwhile, the rest of the conference could easily change position throughout the rest of the regular season, so Jeremy thinks it will be interesting to see what teams wind up with what path through the postseason.

Stugotz points out that legends are fighting just to make the Play-In Tournament, names like LeBron, Steph and KD. But now, after Giannis sustained that injury, all of a sudden you want that seven seed in the East, he says. You don’t want the Celtics, you’d much rather face the Bucks now. Meanwhile, JuJu says the 76ers are scarier than anybody is letting on right now. He argues that the 76ers haven’t had a healthy Joel Embiid and a healthy Tyrese Maxey together in a while and he thinks that team needs to be more feared, especially with the East potentially more wide open in light of Giannis’ injury.

Check out the full discussion above and make sure to tune into The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz Monday-Friday at 11 a.m. ET on DraftKings Network!

SHOW BREAKDOWN

Local Hour: How DARE You Pray Like That?

• Today’s cast: Dan, Stugotz, Billy, Jeremy, JuJu, Lucy, and Tony. Dan says we finally have people in the building who can talk Women’s College Basketball as we welcome Lucy, our Iowa Despondent, and JuJu back to the show! Did Lucy force a Meadowlark Media employee to pray on Iowa’s behalf? Why didn’t it work? As a result, Stugotz delivers his Top 5 Athletes Who Connote Prayer. Then, JuJu and Tony dive into hip-hop beef and what Dan get wrong about it yesterday. Plus, as David Samson joins the show, we discuss his tour and develop a new show for him and JuJu with a very creative name. Will Stugotz get in on the pay day?

Big Suey: A Few Ju’s Cuttin’ It Up

• It’s time to debut Meadowlark Media’s newest project: “A Few Ju’s Cuttin’ It Up” featuring David Samson and JuJu Gotti. Then, is a changing of the guards imminent in the NBA? The entire crew breaks down the fascinating storylines across the league in both conferences amongst the younger and older teams. Plus, it’s time for Stat of the Day, Lucy is checked out, and we discuss the gambling money on both the Men’s and Women’s title games.

Hour 1: Zo or No!

• Alonzo Mourning joins the show to discuss his charitable efforts across South Florida before playing Stugotz’s game of Zo or No and discuss John Thompson, blocking Vince Carter, his iconic meme, and the 2006 NBA Finals. Then, JuJu calls out Jeremy for his finger-licking snafu, burning nads in the eclipse, and do NBA players get deeper pools?

Hour 2: Shanalysis

• JuJu has some reporting to do on gambling in college sports before we get to everyone’s favorite game: AGAINST! THE! SPREAD! Then, friend of the show Neal Brennan is here to discuss his new special AND podcast as he takes us through what he’s learned in and around his own suffering, why it’s impossible for athletes to be mentally healthy, the state of modern comedy, and why the sun is the enemy of a specific group of people.

Postgame Show: Yeah?

• Billy has some exciting news.

VIDEO:

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