All-in trade gambit doesn’t end in title
B'klyn title hopes dashed by Bucks in Game 7 Just 2 points after KD heroics force overtime
The Nets traded the franchise’s future on Jan. 19 to add James Harden to Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
They dispatched Caris LeVert, Jarrett Allen, Taurean Prince and Rodions Kurucs, as well as 2022, 2024 and 2026 first-round picks and the right to swap first-round picks in 2021, 2023, 2025 and 2027 in a three-team package to acquire Harden from Houston.
And all it got them in the end was an Eastern Conference semifinals knockout by the Bucks. As thrilling and loud as it was for Game 7 on Saturday at Barclays Center, the Nets died in overtime, 115-111, and lasted just one round further than the rebuilding Knicks.
In the end, the trade got them a hamstring-impaired Harden. Coach Steve Nash had Harden play all 53 minutes Saturday, but he played most of it erratically as the Bucks took the Nets out in overtime.
As Harden deferred in OT, the Bucks’ two stars emerged: Giannis Antetokounmpo scored the tying bucket in the final minute and Khris Middleton netted the game-winner.
The Nets’ stars couldn’t get healthy enough. Kyrie Irving missed the final four games of the series with aright ankle sprain Kevin Durant called “gruesome’’ after the loss Saturday.
“[I feel] like s--t, honestly,’’ Harden said. “So many emotions. Me personally, frustration for myself [not] being durable and being myself [like] the last so many postseasons. Dealing with his particular hamstring, it’s frustrating. I’m frustrated. We did everything we could.’’
It wasn’t the playoff-record 13 turnovers Harden committed in the Rockets’ 2015 Western Conference finals loss that clinched the series for the Warriors, but it wasn’t good.
In his third game back after suffering the hamstring injury, Harden was more limber, but more errant. Bucks point guard Jrue Holiday rose up at the end to hit big shots and free throws down the stretch, and also got a key late offensive rebound to pull out the victory.
Harden finished with 22 points as he got to the free-throw line for a 10-for-10 showing. But he shot 5-for-17 overall and 2-for-12 from 3-point range and committed four turnovers, including one hideous one with 4:30 left in regulation on a long feed to nobody. Harden also committed a bad foul on Middleton with 1:05 left and the Nets down two in regulation.
Nash said Harden was essentially playing on “one leg,’’ but didn’t trust his bench to give the veteran a breather in the finale.
“With myself and Ky out, it’s too much pressure on KD,’’ Harden said. “If we’re not injured and Ky is on the floor, it’s a totally different case.’’
The Nets’ Big 3 were injured off and on all season and Harden called that process “draining.’’ Harden said he had a grade 2 hamstring strain going.
“It’s very difficult to fight through it when the three best players are in and out of the lineups,’’ Harden said. “We have to take care of our bodies and be back next year.’’
The Nets’ Big 3 ain’t getting any younger, though.
“I knew it was possible [we wouldn’t win the title], we’re missing Kyrie and James is on one leg,’’ Nash said. “I still thought we could win it tonight. The game could’ve gone either way. We faced too many obstacles this year.’’
The Nets have been villains after since trading for “The Beard,’’ and now the villains are dead.
“I’m kind of oblivious to all the noise,’’ Nash said before the contest when asked if he liked that his team has been villains since the Harden trade. “So I forgot about that. If we’re still the villains, then we’ll embrace it.’’
Complaining of lack of mobility, Harden played 88 combined minutes in the first two games he was back, and then all 53 Saturday. Maybe Nash could’ve given his one leg a breather.
If this season really was championship or bust for the Nets, bust won out.
After a season filled with injuries and absences, the Nets’ postseason ended the same way Saturday night at Barclays Center. With Kyrie Irving watching from the bench in street clothes, the Nets suffered a late collapse against the Bucks and lost 115111 in overtime in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The Nets shot 1-for-12 in the overtime as their season died with the sound of a clank off the rim. The last miss was Kevin Durant’s heave with 0.3 seconds left.
“Yeah, we want to win. We want to win every game we play; we want to win a championship every year, just like every team, so the last game of the season, we lose [it hurts],” said Durant, whose 48 points went to waste. “But the beauty of our profession is get up and we get up and keep going. Everybody on this team has worked extremely hard. They care about the game. So we get ready for next year.”
This super-team wasn’t supposed to have to wait until next year. They were built to go to — and even win — the NBA Finals, but got knocked out in the second round. The Nets suffered their first and only home defeat of these playoffs despite yet another Durant master class, his third 40-point eruption of the playoffs.
“They couldn’t have given us anything more,” Nets coach Steve Nash said. “To take that team without Ky and James [Harden] on one leg out there doing anything he can to help his teammates, it’s just ... you go down the line, what [Blake Griffin] gave us. Kevin’s just … I don’t know what more Kevin could do, it’s just out of this world.”
Durant’s 23-foot turnaround in the final seconds of regulation tied the game and forced OT. But after Bruce Brown (14 points) scored seconds into the extra period for a 111-109 advantage, the Nets didn’t get another point. The Bucks scored six — a hook from Giannis Antetokounmpo with 1:12 remaining, a fadeaway from Khris Middleton with 40 seconds left and two cosmetic free throws by Brook Lopez — to win it.
The sellout crowd of 16,287 — including the likes of Eli Manning, Mark Messier, Robert Saleh, H.E.R and a host of Yankees — left disappointed. The Bucks moved on to the Eastern Conference finals, and the Nets to the offseason, left to rue the injuries that undid their campaign.
Antetokounmpo finished with 40 points, 13 boards and the huge OT bucket.
Harden had 22 points, nine boards and nine assists, but was clearly playing in a diminished state thanks to what he confirmed was a Grade 2 hamstring strain. Griffin fouled out after a double-double of 17 points and 11 boards.
“S--t, honestly, so many emotions,” Harden said. “Just me personally, it’s frustrating for myself, just being durable and being myself for the last so many postseasons. Just dealing with this particular hamstring, it’s just frustrating. I’m frustrated. We did everything we could towards the end. Just frustrated.”
It was knotted at 86-all in the fourth quarter when Joe Harris untied it on a 3-pointer that bounced up and in.
The Nets led 101-96 with four minutes left after Harden pulled up for a bank 3, but then they coughed up an 8-0 run. A Holiday 3-pointer left the Nets in a 104-101 hole.
Middleton sank two at the line and the Nets trailed 109-105 with 1:05 to play.
But Durant hit a 7-foot pull-up to halve the lead with 42 seconds remaining. And when the Nets forced a shot-clock violation, they had one last chance with six seconds left in regulation. Durant’s heave with a second left and P.J. Tucker draped all over him forced overtime.
Brown’s offensive rebound and score opened the extra period, but the Nets didn’t score again.
Antetokounmpo posted up Durant and knotted it on a hook, and after Harris missed a 3-point attempt, Middleton’s turnaround fadeaway left the Nets down 113-111 with 40.1 seconds left in overtime.
Durant missed a fadeaway, but when Milwaukee missed too, he snatched the rebound. The Nets had one final shot in their season, and Durant took it — and missed it with 0.3 seconds left.