BUBBLE YUM!
Nets pull off Orlando stunner with win over mighty Bucks
The Nets were 19-point underdogs entering Tuesday’s matchup against the league-best Milwaukee Bucks. But they played like they were the favorites, emerging victorious in a 119-116 stunner over the Eastern Conference title favorites.
The Nets upset the Bucks without their three best available players: Caris LeVert (thigh),
Joe Harris (back) and Jarrett Allen (rest).
It’s interim head coach Jacque Vaughn’s signature win, and he’s only five games into his campaign to retain the job.
“I totally do believe in momentum and the momentum of keeping your spirit in check. We talked about as a group the symbolism of bamboo, being extremely resilient and extremely flexible and adaptable,” Vaughn said. “Tonight was another example; we had to be all of those three things with the different lineup. So overall, that concept has stayed with us and I hope it continues.”
Vaughn and his Nets studied the Bucks, who lost to the Rockets on Sunday, and came to a conclusion: The Bucks will give up the three, and they’re going to drive — and drive hard — so they needed to pack the paint with force.
The Nets took the three, and made it with regularity, shooting 55 of them and making 21. Vaughn said he wanted to test Giannis Antetokounmpo’s ability to be unselfish. His Nets packed the paint, going to a zone and forcing the other starters on the floor to make plays.
“You’ve just got to be ready to take them and knock them down. We missed some but you can’t stop shooting. That’s what we did,” said Chris Chiozza, who finished with 10 points and 10 assists off the bench. “We had a stretch where we had missed a couple open shots. We didn’t let that bother us.”
Khris Middleton shot 3-of-8 and Eric Bledsoe shot 1-of-5 for the Bucks. Milwaukee head coach Mike Budenholzer opted to take both his All-Stars in Antetokounmpo and Middleton out of the game in the second half, though players say they saw Antetokounmpo warming up after the halftime break, as if he were about to re-enter the game.
Vaughn said he wanted to test Garrett Temple’s veteran leadership. Temple started cold but began heating up,
then acting up, running off with 19 points and hitting five of his 11 threepoint attempts. He hit the game-winning shot to give the Nets a three-point lead with seven seconds to go.
“What I learned about Jacque is he is who I thought he is. Nothing different. He’s a player’s coach, he knows how to motivate,” Temple said of Vaughn. “He puts people in position to play their best and he definitely enacts a lot of confidence on the offensive end.
“He’s a great fit, especially for the situation we went into tonight. He’s the perfect coach for this.”
This Bucks game was Vaughn’s biggest test yet, entering without his best players against a legitimate NBA title contender. It’s not his first time delivering for this team. Vaughn is 3-1 as Nets head coach, with wins over both the Lakers and Bucks — the two teams many consider NBA Finals favorites.
The Nets don’t have much time to dwell. They’ll play the Celtics tonight, which brings the challenge of handling Boston’s trio of Kemba Walker, Jayston Tatum and Jaylen Brown. The Nets, though, anticipate their LeVert-Harris-Allen trio will be back in action.
Vaughn can give a huge sigh of relief. He just pulled off the unthinkable, David slaying Goliath, for a first half with stars, then a second without.
The message to his team is the same as it’s been since he led the team into Orlando: Keep everything simple.
“Same conversation we had after our first scrimmage here. It will carry through that each day, we’ll take it, process it, see what happens, and reload and do it again,” he said. “We won’t complicate this thing. Hopefully, more discipline to do that. Just doing simple a little bit better and overall, it feels good for the group.”