It started as a playoff primer. It ended up as an MVP matchup — and a classic.
Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo dueled back-and-forth. Until a cold spell by the Nets — and hot streak by Khris Middleton — handed the Nets a 117-114 loss in what could well be one of the best games of this NBA season.
Antetokounmpo poured in a season-high 49 points before 3,280 at Fiserv Forum, and Middleton had six of his 26 during an 11-0 fourth-quarter run that gave the Bucks the lead for good.
Durant answered with 42 points and 10 rebounds but missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer that fell just short at the buzzer.
“I was very, very proud of my teammates the way we defended,” Antetokounmpo said. “Obviously, KD had 42, but they were tough for him. Everything was tough. He’s just unbelievable. That’s what he does. But the way we defended, the way we keep guys in front, the way we switched, we did a great job.
It might’ve been the toughest defense the Nets faced all season. Jrue Holiday made Kyrie Irving work for his 20 points and six assists. He and Durant combined for nine of the team’s 16 turnovers, handing Milwaukee 20 points.
“We didn’t shoot the ball well. We weren’t really sharp. We got a little stagnant, turned the ball over a ton, unforced turnovers,” coach Steve Nash said. “It’s more about us playing a little better, a little sharper.”
With the score knotted at 90-all after three, the Nets had been 35-1 when tied or leading going into the fourth. Make that 35-2.
Ahead 96-90 after a pull-up 3 by Landry Shamet (17 points), the Bucks surged ahead with an 11-0 run. The Nets shot 0-for-6 with a pair of turnovers to fall in a five-point hole on a 3 by Holiday (18 points) with 7:29 left.
The Nets never got closer than three the rest of the way.
“It was a case of hitting a cold shooting streak,” Durant said.
“They’ve got long athletic guys, and they love getting deflections. I ran into the lane and shot some bad ones. A few guys ran into the lane and tried to throw out, and they got their hands on them. So it was stuff like that, that we had to control that got them back into the game, and then we were in a dogfight.”
The loss, coupled with the 76ers’ 113-111 overtime victory in San Antonio, gave Philadelphia the Eastern Conference’s top seed again by a half-game. The Nets (43-22) are 2 ¹/₂ up on the Bucks (40-24) for the second seed entering Tuesday’s rematch in Milwaukee.
When the teams faced each other Jan. 18 in Brooklyn, the Nets won behind 34 points from James Harden, who now is out with a hamstring strain.
“James will give us a totally different dimension, but we don’t sit here and say, ‘Well, wait ’til James gets back.’ We try to solve the puzzle now,” Nash said.
“Yeah we definitely miss James, and we want our whole team out there,” Durant said. “But we chalk this one, get better tomorrow and worry about the next game. And we play these guys again, which is the good part.”
The Nets started DeAndre Jordan and left him alone on Antetokounmpo, daring him to hit jumpers and let the rest of the Bucks to beat them. It didn’t work.
“I don’t like when teams play me 1-on-1. My whole life, I’ve been wanting to create, either for myself or my teammates. That’s my first instinct,” Antetokounmpo said. “You got to kind of switch your mindset during the game: OK, this night is not going to be a night you’re going to create.”
No, it was a night he had to dominate.
The Nets ran out to a quick 37-23 lead, but an 11-0 Bucks run took their momentum.
Milwaukee’s long-armed, physical defense slowed down the Nets’ vaunted iso game.
“They definitely picked up the physicality in terms of shrinking the floor,” Irving said. “Whenever me and K [Durant] had isos, they were showing two bodies, three bodies, contesting everything.”