NBA Playoff Reactions: June 15, 2021

Brooklyn Nets 114, Milwaukee Bucks 108

Nets lead series 3-2

FINAL BOX SCORE

This was a game for the ages. Kevin Durant’s epic night coupled with Milwaukee’s jaw-dropping collapse left my brain scrambled by the final buzzer. I needed a lot of time to unpack what I had watched. In fact, I felt I needed to watch the game again to really get a feel of how things went down.

I feel like this game played out in three acts. The first act saw the Bucks jump out to a 32-15 lead. Milwaukee used a balanced attack in terms of shot location and individual shot distribution to push out to their game-high margin. Meanwhile, Brooklyn ran several actions that got them good looks, but they shots just weren’t falling. The Nets shot 4-of-20 (20.0 percent) during this act. Kevin Durant (eight points) and Jeff Green (seven points) were the only two to score.

Then came the second act. This act ended in a 42-all tie. The buckets finally began to fall for Brooklyn’s attack. Durant (11 points in this act) and Green (13 points) continued to produce, but Blake Griffin managed to jump in on the action with 12 points of his own. However, Milwaukee’s attack continued to be steady and even. Even for all their improvements, Brooklyn was still down by 17 points.

Everything flipped in the third act, with Brooklyn outscoring Milwaukee 57-34 over the final act. The Bucks’ offensive machine ground to a halt. They started going to the isolation well fairly early in this act instead of continuing the actions that got them the big lead. In fact, StatMuse found that 11 of their final 17 possessions were isolations. This made their offense more predictable for Brooklyn and re-energized them to start making stops.

The Nets’ new energy on defense turned into better offense. Unlike the previous two acts, every Brooklynite that played in the final act scored. One of those scorers was Kevin Durant, who went absolutely supernova and dropped 31 points over the final 19:08 of game time that this act covers. P.J. Tucker, his main defender in this game, bared the brunt of this onslaught. However, it felt like no one could stop KD by a certain point.

Kevin Durant finished the game with 49 points, 17 rebounds, and 10 assists. It was his first playoff triple-double since Game 4 of the 2018 NBA Finals. I knew coming in that Durant would find a way to produce for Brooklyn in such a pivotal game as this. However, I definitely didn’t expect him to produce as much as he did. It was so fun to watch him get basically whatever he wanted on the offensive end.

I think the presence of James Harden really gave KD the space to unleash his wrath. After Game 4, I was worried that Durant would have to go it alone without the other two members of the Big Three. Milwaukee definitely would have had the upper hand if that scenario came true. However, James Harden spent Tuesday making his miraculous escape from the injury report and got onto the court in time for tip-off.

Individually, Harden had a brutal game. He had five points on 1-of-10 shooting, including 0-of-8 on his 3-point attempts. He also took just three free throw attempts, though he made them all. While he never grimmaced or labored down the court during the game, it was evident that it still affected him. Specifically, he was never aggressive with his drive, opting for stepback 3’s anytime he sought to score. As you can see from his shooting line, that didn’t quite work out.

However, he still found ways to stay engaged in the game. He dished out eight assists and grabbed six rebounds. He also defended pretty well. Per NBA matchup data, Harden’s defensive assignments went 4-of-13 (30.8 percent) from the field against him. He was responsible for a big stop down the stretch in the post against Giannis Antetokounmpo. Even with Harden’s offensive struggles, Brooklyn was in a much better place with him than if they had gone without him.

This was an incredibly embarrassing loss for Milwaukee. They held a double-digit lead for about two-thirds of the game, only to see it squandered in another bout of Bucks self-sabotage. Much like it puzzled me in Game 3, I’m not sure why Milwaukee felt compelled to turn away from what worked for them.

In theory, I get that head coach Mike Budenholzer wanted to run the rest of the game through his stars. In the final act, Giannis took 11 shot attempts, Khris Middleton took eight, and Jrue Holiday took seven. Still, Milwaukee was doing that just fine earlier in the game without sucking the energy out of their offense with constant isos.

My concern is that, as late as we are in the postseason, Budenholzer won’t see fit to change his ways. Game 6 will be another game where the Bucks start off playing well offensively. Then at some random point in the game, Budenholzer will choose to flip the gameplan and move away from what worked for them. If that ends up being the case, and Game 6 marks the end of their season, it will definitely be time for a coaching change in Milwaukee.