Bucks drop to 3-point favorites in Game 5 vs. Hawks since opening [UPDATE]

Things couldn’t have gone worse for the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals vs. the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night. The Bucks entered the game as heavy favorites at -7 on the road with PG Trae Young (foot) sidelined. Milwaukee had a chance to take a 3-1 lead in the series heading back home for Game 5. Instead, chaos ensued.

Update: Unsurprisingly, this line as moved quite a bit since this article was published early Wednesday morning. The Bucks are now only 3-point favorites at home in Game 5. The dramatic shift is really with the anticipation that Giannis may not play on Thursday night. Even if Antetokounmpo were to play, there’s no way he’s 100 percent healthy and Milwaukee has been wildly inconsistent these playoffs. The moneyline is down to MIL -152 and ATL +130. We can expect this to move throughout the day and could see the Hawks favored if Giannis is ruled out.

The Bucks fell behind early and couldn’t recover, trailing by 13 points at halftime. Shortly after, Giannis Antetokounmpo went down with what looked like a serious knee injury. The Greek Freak will underdog further imaging on Wednesday to determine the severity of the hyperextended left knee. The Hawks went on to win 110-88 and even the series 2-2.

It appears the initial thought is the Bucks will get Giannis back or be fine at home without him. Milwaukee is a 5-point favorite at home in Game 5 on Thursday night against the Hawks despite uncertainty surrounding Antetokounmpo’s injury. We also know that there’s a chance Young will be able to return given his injury was just a bone bruise, something that could heal over 48 hours. Giannis’ knee may be in worse shape.

DraftKings Sportsbook also has Milwaukee at -186 on the moneyline. The series line isn’t posted yet, but we do have NBA championship odds up and the Bucks are still +330, second-best odds to win it all behind the Phoenix Suns at -134. There seems to be a bit of value right now in the Hawks at +155 on the ML in Game 5 and at +550 to win it all. ATL looked very good even before the Giannis injury on Tuesday.

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