Written by Titan Frey
Have we stepped inside of a time machine and gone back to the late 90s? In today’s NBA, the scores are high and the defense is… well, not always there.
Game three between the Brooklyn Nets and the Milwaukee Bucks felt like a throwback. From tough “D” (at times) to plenty of midrange jumpers, it really took me back.
There’s been a slight back and forth, thanks to the media, between Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The basketball world was excited to see how these two players would come out in game three. This was especially true for Antetokounmpo.
With his past playoff failures, being down 0-2, plenty of analysts felt that Antetokounmpo needed to come out swinging. Don’t go down without a fight.
Well, that’s exactly what the Greek Freak did. He came out red-hot, scoring 15 in the first quarter and helping the Bucks take a commanding 30-11 lead after the first quarter.
I’ve been saying Khris Middleton needed to step up and give Antetokounmpo some help if the Bucks want a chance to get back into this series. Boy, did he step up in this game.
Middleton bounced back from his horrible play in games one and two by scoring 35 and grabbing 15 rebounds.
After shooting a combined 30% in the first two games, Middleton found his touch by shooting 12-25 in game three.
Antetokounmpo poured in 33 while grabbing 14 boards himself. These two Bucks stars combined to score 79% of their team’s points. This is the most by teammates in NBA playoff history.
As for the Nets, this was the first game in the series where the Nets seemed to miss James Harden out on the court.
Kevin Durant started slow. He was 2-7 at one point, but you know he wasn’t going to keep missing.
Durant came alive in the third, which helped get the Nets back into the game. He finished with 30 points on 11-28 shooting.
This became the first playoff game since 2018 where Durant shot less than 40% from the field.
Durant would hit a three that put the Nets up three with 1:23 left in the game. After this shot, the Nets would become sloppy.
Now down one with 11.4 seconds to go, the Nets inbound pass went through Bruce Brown’s hands and nearly rolled out of bounds.
Kyrie Irving chased after and picked it up before going out, gave it to Brown, who drove to the hoop. Brown threw up a layup that missed and the Bucks grabbed the rebound.
After two made free throws by the Bucks, the Nets had one last shot, down three with 2.1 seconds remaining.
Durant would take a game-tying three, with three defenders on him, that missed at the buzzer, meaning the Bucks protect their home court.
Game four will be played on Sunday, June 13th, at 3 PM Eastern Standard Time.
The Los Angeles Clippers, the team that has a troubled playoff history, appeared to heading that way once again.
At one point, the Clippers trailed by 21 points in the third quarter. They were destined to head back to LA in a 0-2 hole… then the Clippers started to play like the team everyone thought they would be when Kawhi Leonard and Paul George came together.
The Clippers stormed back and took the lead in the fourth (101-99), but it wouldn’t last for long.
The Jazz started hitting threes and never looked back. The Clippers started to play sloppy, which is part of their franchise playoff tradition.
Do you want to know how dominant the Utah Jazz have been?
After the Clippers had a 13 point lead at halftime of game one, the Jazz has outscored them by 22 points in the last six quarters. The Jazz has also been shooting lights out from three in that span, making 30 of them.
Game three will be back in LA on Saturday, June 12th at 8:30 PM Eastern Standard Time.
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