Nets blow lead in fourth quarter, lose to Bucks in OT
Nets forward Bruce Brown reacts after Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo is fouled during overtime in an NBA game at Barclays Center on Thursday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Another night, another MVP performance.
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 44 points, including the game-winning free throw with 3.0 seconds left and a three-pointer at the end of regulation, to lead the Bucks to a 120-119 overtime win over the Nets at Barclays Center Thursday night.
Kevin Durant led the Nets with 26 points but missed a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer. Durant made hit three straight free throws to give the Nets a 119-118 lead with 18 seconds left.
The loss was a costly one in that it drops the Nets (40-37) into a three-way tie with Atlanta and Charlotte for the No. 8 seed in the East. The Bucks (48-28) remain in second place, just a half game behind Miami.
“Tough. Tough obviously,” Nets coach Steve Nash said of the loss. “…..“You could talk about the finish. We gave up five, seven-point lead depending what point you talk about it late in the game. But throughout the game we made so many uncharacteristic errors that I think you clean those up we’re in a much better standing.”
Said Kyrie Irving: “In the fourth quarter, we just have to be a better ballclub.”
The game was billed as a possible preview of a Nets first-round series and fans could do a lot worse than this matchup. The game, which was tight all the way, featured a crazy fourth quarter, during which Khris Middleton was ejected with a flagrant 2 after he grabbed Bruce Brown by the arm when he was in midair and going up for a dunk and threw him to the ground like a rag doll.
Irving added 25 points for the Nets, who were up by seven points with 2:14 to go in the fourth quarter but were outscored 7-0 to force overtime.
Though the Nets held the advantage for most of the first three quarters, they never led by more than 11 points. With 14 seconds left in the third quarter, Antetokounmpo dunked to give the Bucks their first lead since late in the first quarter.
The one player the Nets couldn’t stop early was Antetokounmpo, which of course does not make them unique in this league.
“He’s been on a hot streak as of late, so it’s not really a surprise,” Irving said of Antetokounmpo’s performance.
Antetokounmpo was just two days removed from a 40-point game in a win over the 76ers that included a game-winning block of fellow MVP candidate Joel Embiid’s shot. He kept right on rolling early in Brooklyn, scoring 20 first-half points, shooting 8-for-11.
It marked the eighth time in the last nine games that Antetokounmpo has scored 20 or more points.
“He’s one of those players that have established himself, that his points are almost like absolute, like guaranteed,” said the Nets Kevin Durant, who won the MVP in 2013-14 when he was with Oklahoma City. “It’s about playing him physical, making it as tough as you can.”
Should the 27-year-old Antetokounmpo beat out Embiid and last year’s winner Nikola Jokic of Denver, he would become just the ninth player to win three or more MVP awards.
That elite group includes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (6), Bill Russell (5), Michael Jordan (5), Wilt Chamberlain (4), LeBron James (4), Moses Malone (3), Larry Bird (3), and Magic Johnson (3).
It was not the first time Antetokounmpo has had a big night against the Nets. In the 2021 Eastern Conference semifinals, Antetokounmpo was instrumental in the Bucks’ 4-3 series win with averages of 31.9 points, 12.9 rebounds, and 3.6 assists. It was Antetokounmpo’s foot that Irving landed on in Game 4 of that series. The result was an ankle injury that knocked him out of the playoffs.
In their first three meetings of the season, the Nets didn’t have much more success against Antetokounmpo. Milwaukee went 2-1 in those games with the Greek Freak averaging 20.7 points 11.7 rebounds and 7.3 assists.
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
