Nets, Bucks hope to avoid early exit in Game 7

NEW YORK >> Brooklyn’s blockbuster brought James Harden to play with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, creating a team with potential to shoot its way out of any situation.

Milwaukee’s move gave Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton a top twoway guard in Jrue Holiday, who could run his team and slow down the other.

Both teams hoped their big trade was the one that would lead to a championship.

One of them won’t even get halfway there.

The Nets and Bucks play Game 7 of their second-round series Saturday in Brooklyn, with the winner moving on to play for the Eastern Conference title and the loser falling well short of expectations.

“With everything we’ve built and been through, we got the second seed for this particular reason and we’ve just got to go out there and hoop,” Harden said. “At home. One game.”

In a series where the home team has won every game, the Nets hope their strong ending to the regular season pays off now. They won their final five games to finish two games ahead of the Bucks for the No. 2 seed, giving them home-court advantage in this round.

Brooklyn is 6-0 at home in the playoffs and 24-3 against East teams at Barclays Center this season.

With Irving sidelined by a sprained ankle and Harden limited in his return from right hamstring tightness, the Nets are a shell of the team that led the league in shooting percentage and was second in scoring this season.

The Nets have been held below 100 points in three of the last four games and might not have gotten there without Durant’s 49 points in their 114-108 victory in Game 5.

“Since Game 3 to Game 6, we’ve played four great games and we’ve just got to keep trusting one another, keep trusting our habits, keep making it tough for them,” Antetokounmpo said.

Durant scored 32 more in Game 6 and Harden had 16, but Blake Griffin was the only other Nets player in double figures with 12. Jeff Green managed only five after his 27 points in Game 5 and Brooklyn got only nine points from its bench as Steve Nash largely stuck with his starters.

Meanwhile, Middleton comes off his best performance, with 38 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and five steals in Game 5 after struggling early in the series. Antetokounmpo had 30 points and 17 rebounds, his fourth straight 30-10 game.