Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo will miss Monday night’s game against the host Detroit Pistons due to right knee soreness.

This is reportedly the first time Antetokounmpo has been sidelined by his right knee this season. He has missed other games due to left knee soreness. Overall, the contest will mark the 16th that the two-time MVP has missed.

Antetokounmpo played 31 minutes in Saturday’s 129-106 road loss to the Denver Nuggets. He had 31 points and nine rebounds.

Antetokounmpo is averaging a career-high 31.1 points along with 11.7 rebounds in 59 games.

He is considered one of three leading NBA MVP candidates along with reigning two-time winner Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid.

Fellow Bucks All-Star Jrue Holiday (personal reasons) will also miss the game. He is averaging 18.9 points and 7.3 rebounds in 62 games.

Milwaukee (53-21) has the best record in the NBA. The Bucks are 1 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference.

–Field Level Media

The Cleveland Cavaliers are back in the NBA playoffs for the first time since 2018, while the situation for the Atlanta Hawks keeps getting more complicated.

Atlanta and Cleveland will complete their three-game season series on Tuesday at Atlanta.

The Cavaliers (48-28) are No. 4 in the Eastern Conference and clinched their spot in the playoffs with a 108-91 win over the Houston Rockets on Sunday. Cleveland missed the playoffs in each of the previous four seasons.

The Hawks (37-38) are tied with Toronto for the eighth spot in the East, three games out sixth place with six games remaining, and appear headed for the play-in tournament for the second consecutive year.

Atlanta has alternated wins and losses for seven straight games and fell to the Memphis Grizzlies 123-119 on Sunday. Four of Atlanta’s final seven games are at home.

“We can’t look too far ahead,” Atlanta’s Trae Young said. “We’ve got to take this next one before we go back on the road. We can control it. That’s all that matters.”

Cleveland and Atlanta split the first two meetings of the season. The Cavaliers won 114-102 on Nov. 21 at Cleveland and the Hawks prevailed 136-119 on Feb. 24 at Atlanta. The Hawks have won the last four meetings in Atlanta.

Cleveland’s Jarrett Allen scored 24 points on Sunday, while Donovan Mitchell scored 22 points on Sunday.

Mitchell is trying to become the fourth player in NBA history to average 27 points, 1.5 steals and make 200-plus 3-pointers on 37 percent shooting. He would join Stephen Curry (2015-16), Paul George (2018-19) and James Harden (2014-15). Mitchell is averaging a career-high 27.4 points, 1.5 steals and is shooting 37.9 percent on 3-pointers.

Mitchell was acquired in September in a trade with Utah. In addition to his offensive skills, he also brings playoff experience. The Jazz qualified for the playoffs each of Mitchell’s five seasons with the team and he has become a vocal leader for the Cavs.

“I told the guys, this is what you should just come to expect,” Mitchell said. “You made your first one. Appreciate and enjoy it. Celebrate it for the city, for the organization, for you individual guys who have made it. We should come to a point now where that’s expected of us making the playoffs and continuously being here and continuously pushing forward.”

Atlanta has gotten stellar post play of late from Clint Capela and reserve Onyeka Okongwu. In the last two games, Capela produced 17 points and 17 rebounds against the Indiana Pacers and 18 points with 16 rebounds against the Memphis Grizzlies.

Okongwu has totaled 25 points and 13 rebounds, eight of them offensive, over that span. He has had six games with four-plus offensive rebounds over the last eight games.

“(Okongwu) has been really good, particularly on the offensive glass,” Atlanta coach Quin Snyder said. “He is impacting the game so much on the glass. He has been tenacious rebounding and, as much as anything, I like the way he competes and he’s hungry to learn.”

–Field Level Media

The Philadelphia 76ers have ruled out Joel Embiid and James Harden for Monday night’s showdown against Nikola Jokic and the host Denver Nuggets, ESPN reported.

Sitting Embiid (calf tightness) is precautionary, given he played in the 76ers’ back-to-back on Friday and Saturday against Golden State and Phoenix. The Sixers play again Wednesday against visiting Dallas. Embiid attempted to work out Monday morning, per the report.

The move shelves the showdown between MVP frontrunners. Jokic has won the award the past two seasons.

Harden (Achilles soreness) was originally expected to return after missing the past three games. He was listed as questionable on the team’s injury report. But ESPN reported about 30 minutes before tip-off that Harden was downgraded to out and targeting a return later in the week when the 76ers are at home.

Philadelphia (49-25) looks fixed as the third seed in the Eastern Conference. The 76ers are 2 1/2 games behind Boston for the second seed and two games ahead of fourth-place Cleveland. Philly has eight games remaining.

Embiid hasn’t missed a game since March 1, when he was inactive against Miami.

Embiid is averaging 33.3 points, 10.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 61 starts. He also averages 1.7 blocks per game.

By comparison, Jokic is averaging 24.9 points, 11.8 rebounds and 9.9 assists in 66 starts. Jokic is shooting 63.3 percent from the floor.

Embiid scored 47 points and Jokic 24 in the teams’ first meeting Jan. 28. Philadelphia won 126-119.

–Field Level Media

The NBA rescinded the 16th technical foul assessed to Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic on Sunday, making him eligible to play against the Indiana Pacers on Monday night.

Players and coaches are given a one-game suspension for getting hit with a 16th technical during the regular season.

Doncic, 24, received the technical with 7:51 remaining in the third quarter for arguing with an official following a missed shot on a drive to the basket. The suspension would have been the first in the NBA career of Doncic.

Doncic used “a profanity directed at the officials in protest to a no-call that was correctly judged in postgame video review,” crew chief of officials Kevin Scott said in a pool report after the game.

The league issued no explanation for the reversal.

The Mavericks enter Monday’s game one game out of 10th place in the Western Conference, which is the final spot for the play-in tournament.

Doncic would have been the third player this season to serve a one-game suspension for technical fouls, joining Memphis Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks (twice) and Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green.

–Field Level Media

The Boston Celtics are attempting to earn the best record in the NBA and the No. 1 seed ahead of the Eastern Conference playoffs, while the Washington Wizards also have something to play for Tuesday at Boston.

The Wizards (33-42) were in a tie with Indiana for 11th place in the Eastern Conference standings following Sunday’s 114-104 loss to Toronto.

Washington has seven regular-season games remaining and still has a slim chance to extend its season. The Wizards will need to be seeded No. 7 through No. 10 to qualify for the NBA’s play-in round and were 3 1/2 games outside of the No. 10 spot heading into league play Monday.

The setback against Toronto was Washington’s eighth loss in its last 10 games. The Wizards played Sunday’s game without guard Bradley Beal (left knee), forward Kyle Kuzma (right ankle) and guard Monte Morris (left groin). Beal has missed Washington’s last three games, and Kuzma has been unavailable for the team’s last four contests.

Beal, who has played in 50 games this season, is the team’s leading scorer (23.2 points per game) and is averaging 5.4 assists. Kuzma is Washington’s No. 3 scorer (21.2 points).

“Us without our main guys … it’s a difficult task,” said Washington’s Kristaps Porzingis, who scored a team-high 26 points in Sunday’s loss.

A hip injury prevented Jayson Tatum from playing in Boston’s 137-93 victory over San Antonio on Sunday night. Tatum leads the Celtics (52-23) in scoring (30.1) and rebounding (8.9).

Jaylen Brown filled the scoring void by pouring in 41 points against the Spurs.

“He’s the best shooting guard in the league,” Boston’s Malcolm Brogdon said. “He’ll be All-NBA. He’ll make one of the teams this year. His game really speaks for itself. When (Tatum) is out, he’s the No. 1 option. He’s showing that he can be that. He’s put in the work, he’s evolved and taken giant steps forward every year and he’s playing at an extremely high level.”

Entering Monday’s game against Detroit, Milwaukee had a 1 1/2-game lead over Boston for first place in the Eastern Conference. The Bucks and Celtics have split a pair of games this season and will meet for the final time during the regular season Thursday at Milwaukee.

“I think we’re getting more and more locked in,” Brogdon said. “I think it’s apparent when Milwaukee took the No. 1 seed from us after the (All-Star) break, it was sort of a shock to us that we had dropped because we had created some separation between us and them.

“That’s something we want – we want the No. 1 seed. I think this team understands the importance of having home-court advantage in the playoffs, so that’s something we are going after.”

Tuesday’s matchup will be the third game between the Celtics and Wizards this season. The Celtics prevailed 112-94 on Oct. 30 and 130-121 on Nov. 27. Both games were played in Boston.

Brown was Boston’s leading scorer in each game. He tossed in 24 points and had 10 rebounds in the first game, and scored 36 points in the second contest.

–Field Level Media