Pacers HC highlights Bucks' key player amid Giannis Antetokounmpo’s injury

Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle is well aware of the fact that Giannis might not play in the series opener on Sunday. In fact, it’s also possible that Antetokounmpo's calf injury doesn’t heal in time and that he’s forced to sit out the entire series.

Be that as it may, Carlisle understands that not having Giannis makes the Bucks a much different monster. He’s pinpointed veteran Bobby Portis as one of the biggest threats whenever Antetokounmpo is unavailable:

“If Giannis doesn’t play for a day or whatever it is, Portis is playing the best he’s played his entire career,” Carlisle said, via Dustin Dopirak of Journal & Courier. “He’s shooting like 70% from 3 in his last five games. There’s just a lot to digest whether Giannis plays or whether he doesn’t.”

As Carlisle pointed out, Portis has stepped up in a major way for Milwaukee since Giannis went down. Portis started in the Bucks’ last three regular-season games, and he’s produced averages of 17.0 points on 64.7 percent shooting, 9.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.0 blocks in 27.6 minutes per contest. He’s also knocking down 1.7 triples per game on an 83.3 percent clip.

Portis will clearly be a man to watch for the Pacers in this series. However, you can be sure that Indiana would much rather deal with the 6-foot-10 veteran as opposed to having to battle Giannis Antetokounmpo.