The Milwaukee Bucks haven’t been the world-beating team everyone expected them to be when they traded for Damian Lillard this past offseason. And over the past few days, the atmosphere surrounding the Bucks has only gotten worse.

Giannis Antetokounmpo and company have endured plenty of inexcusable losses as of late, the latest of which was a 111-101 defeat against the injury-riddled Memphis Grizzlies.

This defeat is coming off the heels of an embarrassing loss against the Washington Wizards, and the hits simply keep on coming for a Bucks team that was widely expected to challenge for NBA supremacy.

To make matters worse, Antetokounmpo appears to be dealing with a hamstring injury, and with the playoffs approaching, this is not the best time for a team’s best player to be going through a knock that could progressively get worse with wear and tear.

In fact, Bucks head coach Doc Rivers said following their loss to the Grizzlies that he should have taken the initiative to get Giannis Antetokounmpo out of the game since he observed that Antetokounmpo did not look right at all.

“I wanted to take him out of the game. I thought he was running on fumes. As a coach, you gotta make a judgment call sometimes [but] medical makes the call more. They kept saying he was okay, but I have eyes. I just didn’t like the way he was moving,” Rivers said.

Alas, Doc Rivers said that Giannis Antetokounmpo wanted to play through the injury — but could this end up costing the Bucks in the long run?

Despite Doc Rivers’ intuition regarding Giannis Antetokounmpo’s well-being, Antetokounmpo still played 32 minutes, putting up 21 points, seven rebounds, and eight assists. Rivers simply did not want to overrule Antetokounmpo, who wanted to play, and the medical staff, who said that the Bucks star was fine.

“He kept asking to go back in and trainers said he was fine, so we kind of stuck there. But I wish I would have just said no, honestly,” Rivers added.

For Giannis Antetokounmpo, he decided to play through the hamstring injury that’s been bothering him because he believes that doing so would be more helpful for him in the long run.

“At the end of the day, you’re going to face adversity moving forward — things not going to be always easy. … I think it’s the hardest to play through pain and keep on going — not just to try to win, but also for yourself — because I think it’s going to help me in the long run,” Antetokounmpo said.

Nevertheless, it would have been wiser to err on the side of caution. The Bucks cannot afford to let Antetokounmpo play through potential long-term injuries, especially with the postseason quickly approaching. Therefore, considering Doc Rivers’ remarks and the Bucks’ recent poor play, don’t be too shocked if Antetokounmpo needs to miss a few games.

The Bucks’ next game, against the Toronto Raptors, should be simple, but lately, nothing has been simple for them. Subsequently, though, they’ll go up against four playoff-bound teams (the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Boston Celtics, the New York Knicks, and two games against the Orlando Magic). It’s a murderer’s row of opponents.

In particular, the two games against the Magic could be crucial because Orlando is only two games behind the Bucks in the win-loss column. Should the Bucks lose both of those games, they could very well finish fourth or fifth in the East.