ST. FRANCIS, Wis. -- While the Milwaukee Bucks should get one of their reserve big men back for Tuesday's game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, forward/center John Henson won't be returning any time soon.
Henson, who currently has his left foot in a walking boot, says he suffered a "dancer's sprain" when he came down on Brandon Knight's foot during the second quarter of Milwaukee's 98-86 victory over Detroit on Nov. 25.
The injury is called a "dancer's sprain" because Henson was on his toes when the sprain occurred.
Henson is hoping to return to practice Dec. 14 in order to be ready to play when the Bucks begin a West Coast trip in Phoenix on Dec. 15. He's missed Milwaukee's last four games and would sit out six more if he returns against the Suns.
"That's between the doctors and John," Bucks coach Jason Kidd said as far as a timeline for Henson's return. "Whenever they tell me he can go, then he'll go."
The Bucks have played their last two games without both of their reserve centers, as Zaza Pachulia left the team after Wednesday's game in Minnesota to return home to the Republic of Georgia following the death of his grandmother.
Pachulia was not at practice Monday, but the Bucks are expecting the 30-year-old to meet the team in Cleveland in time for Tuesday night's game against the Cavaliers.
"Z is en route back to the States," Kidd said following Monday's practice. "Hopefully everything goes well and he gets back tonight so he can be with the team tomorrow."
With Henson, Pachulia and rookie forward Johnny O'Bryant out, the Bucks were forced to use Ersan Ilyasova off the bench at center and Jared Dudley at power forward Friday against Detroit and Saturday against Houston.
The Bucks managed to out-rebound the Pistons, but the Rockets had a 44-32 advantage on the glass.
"It was definitely a main focus today in practice," Bucks guard O.J. Mayo said. "It has been our focus all year. We have shown we can do it. If shots aren't falling, we have to find ways to get second and third opportunities to get going.
"It is just gang rebounding. The possession isn't over until you get the rebound. We hang our hat on defense. We've had some great stretches defensively, but we haven't rebounded the ball well."
In a slump: After shooting the ball well at the beginning of the season, Mayo has hit a bit of a cold spell of late.
Mayo is 9 for his last 32 from the field and has missed his last eight 3-point attempts. He's now shooting 38.6 percent and a career-worst 29.9 percent from beyond the arc on the season.
"You continue to put in your work and get reps up before and after practice," Mayo said. "Confidence-wise, you stay up. You don't want to go out there and shoot those percentages, but it happens. It only can go up since it can't get much lower."
While his shot hasn't been falling, Mayo has continued to serve as a facilitator offensively and has at least three assists in four of Milwaukee's last five games.
"You can't let it hurt other things on the court, like the defensive end, like playmaking, like communicating," Mayo said. "When I was a younger player it would affect those things a lot because you come in wanting to score and only think about scoring.
"But now I look at the bigger picture and the bigger picture is that we have a winning record in November. That shows we're getting better."
Kidd loses out: A case certainly could have been made for Kidd, but Toronto's Dwane Casey was announced Monday as the Eastern Conference's Coach of the Month for October/November.
Casey has led the Raptors to a 13-4 start, as Toronto sits at the top of the Eastern Conference following the first month of the season.
Atlanta's Mike Budenholzer, Washington's Randy Wittman and Chicago's Tom Thibodeau and Kidd were also nominated for the award.
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