NETS FAIL TO CLOSE OUT BUCKS
Durant can’t save Nets again as Milwaukee ties series with Game 6 victory
MILWAUKEE — For the Nets to beat the Bucks with just one of their three stars healthy, one of two things needed to happen: Either Kevin Durant was going to have an all-time performance, or the Nets’ supporting cast would pick up the slack.
That’s what happened in Game 5 on Tuesday, when with no Kyrie Irving (right ankle sprain) and a limited James Harden (right hamstring tightness), Durant hung a legendary 49-point triple-double on the Bucks to power the shorthanded Nets to a win.
There were no such heroics in Game 6 as the Bucks dominated the Nets from start to finish and walked away with a 104-89 win to force a Game 7, where anything can happen. This is what happens when a team so heavily reliant on super-starpower sees its stars stripped of those powers.
Durant scored 32 points in 40 minutes. Despite a 15of-30 shooting night, each of his shots were tough, and his touch wasn’t the same at the FiServ Forum as it was at Barclays Center in Game 5. Harden had a wider range of motion after making his return from a hamstring strain in Game 5, but he was visibly limited and did not push the tempo as normally expected. He scored 16 points in 40 minutes, not nearly enough to protect Brooklyn from a deer stampede.
“He was moving better today but you know that’s a tough, tough injury. He’s gutting it out for us,” Durant said of Harden. “We’re not expecting too much from him movement wise but he’s going out there and giving it his all and we respect that.”
And the rest of the Nets were nowhere to be found: Joe Harris’ cold streak continued with a 1-of-4 shooting night from downtown. After scoring 27 points off the bench in Game 5, Jeff Green shot just 2-of-9 from the field starting in place of Bruce Brown. Blake Griffin scored 12 points but tallied 17 in Game 5. In total, Nets not named Durant, Harden or Griffin scored just 27 points.
Do the math: That’s not enough to compete in the playoffs, let alone for a championship.
“Not just Joe, the entire team. Go out there and play with the ultimate confidence,” Harden said postgame. “For our shooters, every shot that you shoot, know it’s going in.
For our screeners, and everybody that has a particular role on our team, go out there and do it with confidence because that’s gonna help our team ultimately.”
The Nets’ Game 6 loss in Milwaukee embodied many of the struggles that have defined their season. Injuries to star players held the Nets back. A lack of size cost the Nets on the glass, where they gave up 15 offensive rebounds and lost the battle on the boards, 50-39. The Nets couldn’t take care of the ball: Durant turned the ball over seven times with 16 giveaways as a team. And they didn’t bring the fight to start the game. The Bucks took an 18-5 lead in the first quarter, much like they led by 17 in the first half of Game 5.
Only this time, there was no hero to save the day. After playing all 48 minutes in Game 5, Durant needed a break, and Brooklyn’s supporting cast couldn’t give him one.
“It did hurt to have a tough start, for sure. It’s a common theme here,” Nash said, pointing to struggles on the road, where the Nets are now 1-4 in the playoffs. “We’ve given up tough starts, we’ve clawed back in but haven’t had enough. And frankly, we haven’t played well here.”
Now, we have a Game 7, and while the Nets have yet to lose at home in the playoffs, they look less juggernaut and more jug-ornot with a hobbled Harden and an unclear status for Irving, who the Nets have yet to assess a grade of severity to his ankle sprain. The Bucks are healthier than the Nets. They are more physical. They play a more free-flowing form of basketball and don’t rely on predictable isolation sets as much as the star-heavy Nets.
The Nets have Durant, who is the great equalizer, but even the greats had help. Durant didn’t, and it’s unclear if he’ll have it in Game 7, where a loss will ruin a season filled with championship expectations.
If Durant has a legendary performance, the Nets have a chance. If he doesn’t the odds favor the Bucks, which is not the best place to be with the series hanging in the balance.
“That’s what this is all about is persevering, is finding ways to come back and bounce back,” Nash said, “and that’s why we were able to push through and finished second in the East, and that’s why we have Game 7 on our home floor.”