Brooklyn Nets at Milwaukee Bucks5:00 p.m. BMO Harris Bradley CenterTV: YES Network
The Brooklyn Nets have less than 48 hours to solve a Milwaukee Bucks defense that swallowed them up in the second half at Barclays Center on Thursday night.
After a 111-93 loss in Brooklyn, the Nets are on the road for a rematch at BMO Harris Bradley Center on Saturday evening. The win over the Nets (5-13) was the third straight for the Bucks (9-8), including a 118-101 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday.
Giannis Antetokounmpo put up 34 points and 12 rebounds with five assists and five steals against Cleveland, and was similarly thorough against the Nets with 23 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and four steals.
“He causes havoc with all his penetration,” said Nets coach Kenny Atkinson of the 6-foot-11 forward who will turn 22 next week. “I thought we did an OK job with that, but not good enough.”
The Nets were up 60-59 in the third quarter before Milwaukee outscored them 48-26 over the following 18 minutes. They finished the game shooting 38 percent from the field, their second lowest mark of the season, making just 16 of 46 shots in the second half.
“I thought we got caught in one-on-one mode a lot,” said Atkinson. “Credit to them, but we can do better. We can do better than that.”
RONDAE RETURNS
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson returned to the court on Thursday against the Bucks, and the 6-7 forward played 17 minutes off the bench, scoring seven points with two rebounds.
“It felt good to be back out there,” said Hollis-Jefferson. “My ankle, it was fine. Just being out there, it kind of took me a couple minutes to actually feel comfortable with running and jumping and stuff in an actual game setting. After a minute or two I was good to go and ready to play.”
Hollis-Jefferson had started the Nets’ first 14 games up through the night before Thanksgiving against the Celtics, missing the last two with a sore ankle. second-year forward is averaging 7.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.
“We’re going to build up his minutes,” said Atkinson before Thursday’s game. “He’s been out more than a week. So build him back up bit by bit.”