The Nets endured two exhausting fouls that despatched Kevin Durant and Bruce Brown tumbling to the bottom, however the gut-punch loss and missed alternative for an announcement win harm most.
Durant missed game-winning photographs on the finish of regulation and the top of time beyond regulation on Thursday night time because the Nets couldn't get better from blowing a nine-point lead within the last three minutes of the fourth quarter and misplaced 120-119 to the Milwaukee Bucks at Barclays Heart. Similar to that, Durant’s 26 factors and 11 assists, Kyrie Irving’s 25 factors and respect-craving Bruce Brown’s 23 factors went for naught.
“We’ve acquired to be higher,” Brown mentioned. “We’ve acquired to win this recreation.”
Durant sank three free throws for a 119-118 lead after his legs have been taken out trying a nook 3-pointer with 8.7 seconds remaining in time beyond regulation. He stayed on the ground for some time because the sellout crowd held its collective breath, then rose to his ft as exhales become an “M-V-P” chant.
Peeved that the decision wasn’t reviewed for a doable “reckless” flagrant, Durant mentioned, “I’m harm. That’s two video games in a row a participant walked up beneath me after I’m making an attempt to make a basketball play. So, my ankle is harm.” Not harm sufficient to overlook a recreation, Durant later clarified.
However when it comets to the MVP chants, two-time MVP and defending NBA champion Giannis Antetokounmpo will need to have thought the gang was calling for him. He bull-rushed down the ground and drew a foul, shrugging off a profession’s value of struggles on the line to knock down a pair and end off a 44-point efficiency.
The lead modified fingers 3 times and the rating was tied twice within the fourth quarter of the ultimate regular-season rematch of final season’s thrilling seven-game playoff collection.
“It’s extra accountability on our finish to complete out regulation with extra resolve,” Irving mentioned.
It appeared the Nets have been in whole command with a nine-point lead and three minutes left in regulation after the mud settled on a frenzied span that turned heated when Brown tracked down an errant cross and checked out an empty half of the court docket forward. Brown slowed down as if getting ready for an emphatic dunk, which allowed a hustling Khris Middleton to catch up and hammer the airborne Brown on the wrist.
“It’s a tough foul on an open dunk,” Brown mentioned. “I imply, I wouldn’t do it. However I don’t care. It’s high quality.”
A lot of the 17,917 followers rained boos on Middleton, who was assessed a flagrant-2 foul upon replay assessment and ejected from the sport by rule, leaving Antetokounmpo with out his finest wingman. Not that Durant absolutely had his companion in crunch time, both, since Irving was 0-for-3 with zero factors and one turnover within the last 4 minutes of regulation and time beyond regulation.
Brown started the day saying he felt it was “disrespectful” of the Bucks to primarily give him uncontested perimeter seems within the playoffs final 12 months and supplied his proof of enchancment by reaching 20 factors for the third time this season. He sank each his free throws off the flagrant and Durant continued the momentum surge with an alley-oop dunk to extend the result in 108-99.
Nevertheless it all evaporated rapidly, capped by Antetokounmpo pulling down a 3-pointer to tie the rating at 110-110 with 18 seconds remaining to ship the sport to time beyond regulation. The Nets slipped right into a three-way tie for the No. 8 seed and solely a type of groups (Hawks, Hornets) will get the play-in benefit of solely having to win one in every of two video games to advance to the primary spherical.
“We gave up some well timed offensive rebounds on the finish of the sport that value us,” coach Steve Nash mentioned. “You may hone in on one particular factor, however I feel it’s greater than that. We’re a bunch that’s looking for one another and get a rhythm for a way we wish to play, particularly down the stretch of shut video games. It’s training-camp stuff.”
The Bucks shot 28-of-34 on the free-throw line in comparison with the Nets’ 11-of-16. Brown mentioned the 17-point and 18-attempt disparity impacted the sport “quite a bit,” however declined to go any additional as a result of he's “not taking that high quality” for criticizing officers.
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