DETROIT — Detroit Pistons star Blake Griffin is active for Saturday’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks, marking the first time in the 2019 postseason he’s available to play.
Griffin missed the first two games of the first-round series between the Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks with knee soreness. He also sat the final game of Detroit’s regular season. Thon Maker had been starting in Griffin’s place.
Before Saturday’s game, coach Dwane Casey said that whether or not Griffin played would be determined by his warm-up. He warmed up before Game 2 in Milwaukee before electing not to play.
“It’s one of those things that is tenuous,” Casey said before the game. “He is feeling much, much better so we will go from there.”
Casey had said throughout the series that he was hopeful Griffin would feel well enough to return. Before Game 2, Casey said that some days Griffin feels no pain, whereas he has felt uncomfortable other days. His status had been listed as day-to-day since the series began last week.
Without Griffin, the Pistons have found themselves in an 0-2 hole, losing Game 1 121-86 and Game 2 120-99. But even with Griffin, the Pistons struggled against Milwaukee in the regular season. Griffin played in all four regular-season meetings between the two teams. Despite Griffin averaging 24.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 7.0 assists in those matchups, the Bucks won those four games by an average of 15 points per game.
Even though he was wearing street clothes, Griffin was issued a technical foul in each of the games in Milwaukee. He declined to address the fouls with reporters after the games.
Griffin averaged 24.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.4 assists during the regular season.
Courtesy: ESPN.com
