Bucks face a challenging stretch as they play without injured Giannis Antetokounmpo

MILWAUKEE (AP) – The knock on the Milwaukee Bucks heading into the season was that they didn’t have enough star power supporting Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Now they’re going to have to find a way to win without the two-time league MVP. Bucks coach Doc Rivers says Antetokounmpo will miss about two weeks after straining his left groin Monday in a 118-106 loss at Cleveland.

“We thought it could be worse,” Rivers said after practice Wednesday. “I thought it was actually pretty good news.”

Any extended absence for Antetokounmpo still represents a major obstacle for a team already slumping, with three losses in its last four games. The Bucks (8-7) begin a three-game homestand Thursday against Philadelphia.

“We’ve just got to rally and come together,” guard A.J. Green said after practice. “Continue to find ways to get stops defensively and generate offense. It’s the cards that’s dealt for this extended period of time, however long it is. We’ve got to win games and find ways to do that.”

In the past, the Bucks had other stars to carry the load whenever Antetokounmpo missed extended time, whether it was Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday, Damian Lillard or Brook Lopez. This is the first time since 2017-18 that Antetokounmpo entered a season without at least one teammate who had reached an All-Star Game at some point in his career.

Out of the 13 games Antetokounmpo has played this season, only once have the Bucks outscored their opponent during the minutes when he wasn’t on the floor. That came in their season-opening 133-120 victory over the Washington Wizards.

Rivers said those situations present a different dynamic from when a team knows it won’t have its biggest star for an entire game.

“It’s a big difference,” Rivers said. “It really is. Because when you have a star playing in the game, you’re used to playing a certain way, and when he’s out of the game, now you play a whole different system.”

Indeed, one of the Bucks’ better wins this season came when Antetokounmpo didn’t play at all, when they beat the Golden State Warriors 120-110 while he was out with left knee soreness. In the other game Antetokounmpo missed, the Bucks fell 111-100 at Charlotte.

The Bucks understand it will take more than one player to replace Antetokounmpo’s scoring production.

“It’ll look different every night,” Green said. “It could be one guy one night, another guy the next.”

Antetokounmpo ranks fourth in the NBA in scoring (31.2) and seventh in rebounding (10.8), but Rivers said the Bucks might miss his playmaking most of all during the nine-time All-NBA forward’s absence.

The Bucks have surrounded Antetokounmpo with shooters while putting the ball in his hands more often this season. He has responded by racking up 6.8 assists per game, ranking 15th in the NBA and putting him on pace for a career high.

“I’ve always said it’s easier to replace points than passing,” Rivers said.

Rivers said he has emphasized how players will have to create shots for one another with better ball movement, which has been a problem for Milwaukee during its recent slump. After winning four of their first five games, the Bucks have lost six of their last 10.

“A couple of games, we’ve kind of gotten to dribbling the air off the ball,” guard Cole Anthony said. “Doc told us today, he’s like, ‘Yo, you shouldn’t have that ball in your hands for more than two seconds. Treat it like a ticking time bomb.'”

Antetokounmpo’s injury comes as the Bucks already are playing without Taurean Prince and Kevin Porter Jr.

Prince is out indefinitely with a herniated disk in his neck. Porter hasn’t played since spraining his left ankle in the season opener, and he also recently had meniscus surgery on his right knee.

The Bucks entered the season with high hopes for Porter, who played well after they added him at the February trade deadline. They announced Oct. 31 that Porter would miss approximately four weeks, and Rivers said Wednesday that the guard’s “energy is way up from two weeks ago.”

Porter also spoke to reporters and expressed optimism about the Bucks’ potential while saying that “I think we’ve got a team full of dogs.”

“Our record doesn’t reflect the team that we feel like we are, but at the end of the day, we’ve been having unfortunate things happen with me, TP and Giannis dealing with some lingering things,” Porter said. “We’ve got things that have been happening. … As long as we keep that same belief from day one, we’re going to be all right.”