The Milwaukee Bucks will be taking on the Indiana Pacers as the NBA postseason gets started. The Pacers hold home-court advantage entering this series, putting Milwaukee at a minor disadvantage right away.

But the Bucks believe that they can compete with the Pacers in this series, and they are using last season as the main motivation. The Pacers took down Milwaukee in the playoffs last year, winning in six games, so the Bucks will be out for some redemption this time around.

However, the Bucks will be without star guard Damian Lillard for the start of this playoff series. Lillard has been dealing with a serious blood clot issue for the past few weeks and will miss at least Game 1 of the series.

Lillard has been cleared to return to the court, but he is still ramping things up to return. The star guard will miss Game 1 of the series, but could always make his return down the line.

More Bucks news: Predicting When Bucks’ Damian Lillard Will Be Available in Playoffs

The star guard opened up about it all just before the start of the playoffs.

“Obviously there’s people with way worse issues than I’ve dealt with, so I don’t want to be dramatic about it, but you just never know when something could come up and change your life,” Lillard said Friday. “It’s been guys like Chris Bosh who dealt with this and then it’s another issue and it could be a career-ending thing, so I think you just can’t take days and opportunities and things in your life for granted.”

If the Bucks can get Lillard back within the first few games of this playoff series, it could change everything. Milwaukee wants to make a statement against the Pacers, and Lillard could help them do just that.

The Bucks took three of four games from the Pacers during the regular season this year, all with Lillard in the lineup. If the Bucks want to advance in the postseason, they will need a total team effort, whether Lillard eventually rejoins them sometime during the playoffs.

More Bucks news:

Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo Talks Massive Pressure to Win Second Championship

Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo Uses Tom Cruise to Explain Playoff Plan

Bucks’ Bobby Portis Addresses Challenges Faced This Season Before Playoff Push

For more news and notes on the Milwaukee Bucks, head on over to Milwaukee Bucks on SI.

MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition has lost funding from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Archewell Foundation following the publication of a pro-Palestinian op-ed by the coalition’s founder.

Janan Najeeb, founder of the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition, said she received an email from Archewell Foundation stating they were immediately ending financial support for the organization’s Afghan Women’s Sewing Circle program.

“I opened up the letter and it was very vague,” Najeeb said. “They said that effective immediately, they were no longer going to fund the Afghan Women’s Sewing Circle due to this article that I had written.”

Watch: Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition loses funding from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s foundation over op-ed

Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition loses funding from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s foundation over op-ed

The article in question was a pro-Palestinian op-ed Najeeb published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in March condemning the Israel-Hamas war.

In the email sent to Najeeb, the executive directors of Archewell Foundation wrote: “We were recently made aware of an opinion piece you wrote that goes against the values of the foundation,” informing her that their donations would stop immediately.

Najeeb said she received a call from a different Archewell employee days before the email, inquiring about the article.

“A tabloid type journalist has contacted them and was threatening to write an article that was disparaging,” Najeeb said. “These bullying tactics are meant to silence people.”

According to 2023 tax records, Archewell donated nearly $30,000 to the Milwaukee Coalition for its program that brings together Afghan women refugees.

“It’s just a wonderful opportunity for them to be connected to each other. For many of them, this is the only outing they have during the week to be with other community members that speak their language,” Najeeb said.

Since news of Archewell’s funding cut became public, the program has received thousands of dollars in donations from supporters.

“A third party started a LaunchGood campaign, and within 24 hours we surpassed an entire year’s worth of the foundation money,” Najeeb said.

Archewell Foundation did not respond to requests for comment.

Najeeb maintains the funding was unfairly cut.

“This is just part of the kind of silencing techniques that we are seeing around the country, but we will not be silenced,” Najeeb said.

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MILWAUKEE — A teacher at Rufus King High School in Milwaukee has been removed from the classroom pending an investigation into allegations of misconduct involving students.

This information was shared in a letter to families on Wednesday by the school’s principal.

“He was like mom something really bad is going on—something really really bad,” said Raylena Windmon, recalling the phone call from her son Tuesday morning.

Windmon told TMJ4 News that her son, a junior at Rufus King High School, alerted administration about concerning behavior from one of his teachers with multiple male students.

“And he went, and he blew the whistle,” Windmon said.

According to Windmon, her son felt uncomfortable with actions taken by the teacher.

“She desired to always be in their presence,” she explained.

TMJ4 is not naming the teacher because she hasn’t been criminally charged.

Watch: Milwaukee parents describe impact of Rufus King teacher misconduct allegations

Milwaukee parents describe impact of Rufus King teacher misconduct allegations

The Milwaukee Police Department confirmed they are investigating a report of sex offenses reported on Tuesday.

When asked Windmon if her son feels violated, she responded, “My son feels violated to the fullest degree, he do. He said to me ‘Mom I trusted her. That was my teacher.’”

Another parent, who requested to remain anonymous to protect her son’s identity, confirmed her child is also involved in the investigation.

“Most definitely, most definitely,” the anonymous parent said when asked if she felt lines were crossed with her son.

The mother revealed she was unaware of communications between the teacher and her son outside of school hours.

“She would text him outside of school and everything, yes,” she said. When asked if that ever concerned her, she replied, “I did not know.”

The situation has deeply affected both families.

“I’ve been crying; I’ve been a mess; I’ve been missing work for this; I’ve been throwing up, like I can’t sleep, like this is my baby,” the anonymous mother said.

Windmon explained why she’s speaking out: “Because I love them. Very much. We want them to be successful. We never wanted them to come to school and be damaged.”

When contacted by TMJ4 News, the teacher involved declined to comment but stated she has a hearing with the district scheduled for next week.

The principal said the employee is “not currently working” at the high school pending a full investigation, and that any child who needs assistance or wishes to speak to a trusted adult can do so by calling (414) 267-0700

This story was reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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