See what the Brooklyn Nets had to say after their 115-111 overtime loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
STEVE NASH
On what this season means going forward:
"I think we have guys that are extremely motivated, passionate about what they do, unselfish. They sacrifice, they have a lot of character. I think they will regroup, and they’ll be ready to go again. It’s been a really difficult year. We had a had lot thrown at us and they survived it in incredible fashion. They’ll get themselves ready to go again next year.”
On Bruce Brown's defense vs. Khris Middleton:
"Bruce is a winner. We love him. He fights, he’s tireless, great defensively. Just a great performance by him all season long. We needed him tonight, and he was great."
On finishing the season short of a championship:
"I knew it was possible, especially with all the stuff we faced. You're missing Kyrie, James is on one leg, you have to understand it's not the same. And so I still thought we could win it and clearly I think we proved tonight that we could. Game could have gone either way. You always know there's a chance. Anything could happen. I think we just faced one too many obstacles this year because I thought our guys gave it everything they had.”
KEVIN DURANT
On reflecting on the end of season:
"We want to win. We want to win every game we play. We want to win a championship every year just like every team so the last game of the season we lose, but the beauty of our profession is we get up and keep going. Everybody on this team works extremely hard. They care about the game. So we get ready for next year."
On adversity team faced this season:
“Every team went through adversity this year and I respect the whole league for how they just, everybody, every player in the league going through COVID protocols, every guy that's been injured who played in the bubble and came back for a quick turnaround, guys are in and out the lineup throughout the whole league all year and we still put a show on for the fans. I'm just proud of the league in general especially our team because I'm in there every day, but I'm sure other teams have been through the same stuff that we've been through throughout the year. I'm just proud as a league that we've got guys that come out there and play great basketball every night. We put a show on for the fans in the playoffs, every team. It's one of those things where we dealt with this season and we took it head on and everybody's been professional the whole year."
On effects of injuries to Harden and Irving:
"I can't even speak about how much we missed Kyrie out on the floor and how much we miss James to start the series. And seeing him, you know, I could go for 40 minutes on both of those two, on how much they care about us and how much they put their bodies on the line and help us out as a team. Kyrie had a gruesome ankle injury, and he was thinking about when is when could he play next. And that shows that he cares about us so much. James playing on one leg came out there and gave it his all, 48 minutes in Game 5, 40 last game and then what, 50 tonight, you know? There's nothing but respect and love for those two guys; we missed them out there. But we still had a chance to win.”
JAMES HARDEN
On emotions after the series:
"So many emotions. Just me personally, like, it’s frustrating for myself just being durable and being myself for the last so many postseasons. Just dealing with this particular hamstring, it’s just, it’s frustrating. I’m frustrated. We did everything we could towards the end. Just frustrated. But give the Bucks credit. They fought to the end. Had a hell of a series. Just came up short.”
On playing through hamstring injury:
“It’s basically a grade two hamstring strain, so first possession of Game 1 up until Game 5 that was the first time I did anything, any basketball competition against anybody so I was just literally going out there on a limb. Obviously we’ve got days in between games so I didn’t really have an opportunity test it other than the games. I was just going out there and trying to give everything I can. It’s frustrating. I’m just overall, I don’t know. I don’t know what to say. We gave it everything we had. Just having to deal with injuries throughout the course of the year set us back whether it’s Kevin twice, myself twice, Ky in the postseason. It’s draining and it’s very, very difficult to fight through that when basically the three best players are in and out of the lineups. We’ve just gotta take care of our bodies and be ready to go for the next one.”
On team effort:
“Every guy from top to bottom on this roster brought something to this team every single day. It was a joy to come in and be around these guys from top to bottom. Honestly, this same team is great. Obviously it’s a business and things happen and money gets involved or what not but from top to bottom, whatever the situation was, whatever the circumstance was, whether it’s injuries, whatever the case was guys are ready and prepared to go out there and play minutes in the regular season and the postseason. That’s all you can ask for honestly from a great team. Proud of each and every one of these guys and like I said we just came up a little short. We’ve just gotta get our minds right and keep getting better for next year.”