San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Bucks overcome Nets, Durant
NEW YORK — The Milwaukee Bucks withstood Kevin Durant’s NBArecord 48 points in a Game 7, advancing to the Eastern Conference finals by beating the Brooklyn Nets 115111 in overtime Saturday night. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 40 points and 13 rebounds, and Khris Middleton made the tiebreaking shot with 40 seconds left in the NBA’s first overtime Game 7 in 15 years.
The Bucks held on from there when Durant missed two jumpers, the last an airball with 0.3 of a second remaining.
Middleton added 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Bucks, who reached the East finals for the second time in three years. They will play either Philadelphia or Atlanta in a series that starts Wednesday night.
“I can say for sure I’ve
never been in a game like this, a Game 7 on the road with one of the best players in the world,” Middleton said.
Durant played all 53 minutes and forced OT with a turnaround jumper that was just inches from being a 3pointer that would have won it with a second left.
He added nine rebounds and six assists, but didn’t have enough help with injured Kyrie Irving watching from the baseline and James Harden unable to locate his shot after missing most of the first four games of the series with right hamstring tightness.
Harden had 22 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, but shot 5for17.
“I was just going out there and trying to give everything I can and it’s just frustrating,” Harden said.
It was the NBA’s first Game 7 to need extra time since Dallas beat San Antonio in the 2006 Western Conference semifinals.
The Bucks had a 109107 lead before Middleton missed a 3, but the Bucks got the rebound. They then turned it over on a shot clock violation to give the Nets a final chance with six seconds left. The Nets threw it in across the court to Durant, who hit a spinning, turnaround jumper from just inside the 3point line — maybe even on top of it — to tie it at 109. Bruce Brown scored on a follow shot to open overtime but neither team scored again until Antetokounmpo’s basket with 1:12 to play. Brook Lopez blocked Durant’s shot on the other end before Middleton broke the final tie of the series.
Durant tried to prolong it again, dribbling up the floor and running the clock down before launching a long look that came up well short.
Lopez had 19 points for the Bucks, who were knocked out in this round last year after finishing with the NBA’s best record. Jrue Holiday shook off a poor shooting night to finish with 13 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.
“Those guys, they’re great competitors. I love the way they just kept coming, keep playing, find a way to win an overtime game on the road, Game 7,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “They all made big plays down the stretch, and we needed every one of them.”
The Nets capitalized on the Bucks’ misfires — Antetokounmpo shot an airball on a free throw and Lopez and Holiday hit the side of the backboard on long jumpers during one ugly stretch — to open a 5141 lead on Harden’s threepoint play with 1:59 left in the first half.