With Antetokounmpo on the bench due to soreness in his left calf for the entire game against the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday, the Nets won 133-128 against the Eastern Conference’s top-ranked Bucks.
The Nets were looking for a chance to prove themselves against what is statistically a much more talented team.
“We need to be more perfect in order to go against these great teams,” said Brooklyn Nets Head Coach Kenny Atkinson before the game.
The Bucks began their home game with an early lead knocking in two 3-pointers in a row bringing the score to 9-4 after less than two minutes, but the Nets quickly equalized the score and overcame the points deficit.
The Bucks were having some trouble landing their 3-pointers, but D’Angelo Russell and the Nets did not seem to share this misfortune with Russell knocking down both of his attempted 3-pointers and all five of his regular 2-point shots. With 8:42 of playtime during the first quarter, the Nets were certainly leaning on Russell to gain some necessary points. Russell brought the Nets more points than any other player with 12 total by the end of the quarter.
Second quarter began with the Nets leading 34-26, leaving the Bucks with some ground to makeup. Eric Bledsoe and Khris Middleton worked together to narrow the points gap and bring the score to 66-65 with the Nets still leading. Middleton led the Bucks in clawing back some points by gaining 11 on his own while Russell only put up an additional six points after his first-quarter performance.
The third quarter kicked off and the Nets put up 10 points within a couple of minutes, while the Bucks managed an additional two points, bringing the points gap back up to 10 with the Nets still in the lead. While Russell hadn’t put any of those additional points up, his teammates were taking up the slack with Kurucs hitting five more points and an equal number of rebounds. Nets center Jarrett Allen was also putting in work with a game total of seven rebounds and six more points. While Bledsoe lead the Bucks for points with an impressive 24 total after the third quarter, the Nets ended the quarter still leading 108-96.
Middleton started the final quarter with his right hoof forward by draining a 2-pointer right off the bat. Bledsoe continued to dig deep by putting up a few more points for the Bucks against some heavy defense and Middleton backed him up with a few more points of his own to narrow the points gap and bring the overall score to a tied 115-115 with 7:15 left in the fourth quarter. The rest of the final quarter was full of call-and-response with every shot made by the Nets beckoning an equivalent response from the Bucks. With 2:30 left on the clock, the score was still tied but at 126 for both teams.
The last couple minutes of the game didn’t result in many points for either team, but the Nets were able to lock in a victory by hitting a few 3-pointers and playing good defense, which resulted in a final score of 133-128, Nets winning.
Whether or not the Nets played as perfectly as head coach Kenny Atkinson wanted, they played well enough to defeat the top-ranked Bucks.
The Bucks will have the home-court advantage again on Sunday as they take on the Atlanta Hawks at 6:00.