The N.B.A. Champion May Be the Last Team Standing

Injuries to stars have dominated and reshaped the playoffs, raising questions about the legacy of the team that wins it all.

The Milwaukee Bucks were in the midst of a comeback on Tuesday against the Atlanta Hawks, who were without their best player, Trae Young. With the Bucks up by two games to one in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals series, a win would have put the franchise on the brink of making its first N.B.A. finals since 1974. Then a nightmare unfolded in the third quarter: The Bucks’ star and one of the league’s best players, Giannis Antetokounmpo, landed awkwardly while trying to defend an alley-oop dunk and crumpled to the ground, holding his left knee and writhing in pain. He limped off the court with the help of his brother and teammate, Thanasis, and did not return. The Bucks lost the game, and it’s not clear if Giannis Antetokounmpo — who, the team said, has a hyperextended left knee — will return during the series. More than that, Antetokounmpo’s injury compounded the discouragement of N.B.A. fans who keep hoping an injury wave among the league’s biggest stars will wane, and underscored questions about what it will mean for a team to emerge as champion from a weakened field.