Sixers' Shake Milton Offers Positive Update Following Injury Scare
Philadelphia 76ers sixth man Shake Milton checked into Wednesday night's game for the first time with a little over three minutes left to go in the first quarter. Early on in the second quarter, after being on the floor for nearly eight minutes, Milton had a bit of an injury scare as he felt his knee buckle when he planted his foot down driving to the hoop.
Typically, a non-contact injury as such never results in good news. So, when the Sixers had to foul intentionally just to get Milton off the court so he could head back to the locker room to get everything checked out, the team held their breath.
Fortunately, Milton was back to the 76ers' bench in no time and looked ready to get back in the game. After logging just eight minutes in the first half, the Sixers had Milton available to play 10 minutes in the second half, despite his setback.
"He’s good,” said Sixers head coach Doc Rivers in regards to Milton. “I was scared, I’ll tell you that I thought it was his knee when he did, but they checked him out, the doctor checked him out, KJ came back and told me he was ready, and then Shake actually came to me to tell me he was ready. I got a kick out of that. I guess he was basically telling me to put him back in. So that tells me he was ready to go.”
Due to his mid-game setback, Milton played six fewer minutes than he typically would. That was a result of the Sixers being careful. While Milton admitted the injury scared him at first, too, he made it clear after Wednesday night's game that he's fine.
"Thank God it wasn’t [serious],” Milton said. “I went back to the back and checked it out; I felt okay, I was ready to play anyways, and I was good to go.” Although his minutes were slightly limited following his setback, Milton confidently stated he would play in Thursday night's game at home against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_
