For Brooklyn Nets coach Steve Nash, taking the test was the important part. Passing it was extra credit.
Against the conference-leading Milwaukee Bucks, the NBA’s winningest team each of the past two seasons, the Nets won a top-this-shootout down the stretch, coming out ahead on Kevin Durant’s 3-pointer in the final minute for a 125-123 win, the fourth straight for a team that is climbing the standings over the last week even as it reinvents itself a bit on the fly after the trade for James Harden.
“It was good I think for us to be in that situation first of all against a high-quality opponent,” said Nash. “I thought we were a little sloppy, but they had that resolve, they build that resolve in those scenarios. You can’t cheat that experience, that collective experience, that response. For them, we had a couple turnovers, we made a couple defensive errors down the stretch for layups, for dunks. Having said that, we found a way to stay in the game. That’s really important, just to have that connectivity and belief down the stretch and we need to go through that together. So these are important nights for us, win or lose.”
Tied at 110 with five minutes to go, the Nets and Bucks traded leads eight times down to the buzzer, with Brooklyn getting two big threes in the final 65 seconds to get over the top. With the Nets down 121-119, Joe Harris connected from the right wing for the lead with 1:05 to go. After Khris Middleton put the Bucks back on top, James Harden missed from three, sliced through the lane to grab his long rebound, then circled back out and found Durant stepping into the go-ahead 3-pointer with 36.3 seconds to play.
“You get your offensive rebound, you’re looking out for threes,” said Durant. “James got a great look at the three and got a great rebound and I was there just trailing. It could’ve been me, Joe, Bruce Brown, he’d have done the same thing. But that's just that's just normal basketball, just IQ just knowing that if we get an offensive rebound, look for the 3-pointer first.”
Harden assisted on the Harris 3-pointer as well, the final two assists of his 34-point, 12-rebound double-double in the second game of his Nets career. In shooting 54.8 percent overall, the Nets also shot 48.4 percent (15-for-31) from 3-point range after shooting 45.7 percent in Harden’s debut on Saturday. Harris made 5-of-7 3-pointers, and Jeff Green hit 4-of-5.
“We shot the ball well, and James creates for his teammates and makes them better,” said Nash. “He draws a lot of attention. Any way you slice it, he makes us a better team offensively for sure, and he is incredible reading the game with the ball in his hands. It’s a luxury to have, and we’ll get him into real shape and he’ll be even better. He’s in the paint more, he’s more difficult to defend, and he’s opening the game up for other players. He’s one of the best there is at finding his teammates and distorting and manipulating the defense.”
Durant finished with 30 points, nine rebounds, and six assists, while DeAndre Jordan had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Harris finished with 20 points and Green with 14, and each grabbed six rebounds.
The Nets held a slim 57-56 edge at halftime after shooting 50 percent overall and from 3-point range in the first half.
Brooklyn came out with some hot shooting to start each of the first two quarters, and at the beginning of the game that meant making seven of its first 10 shots. Consecutive mid-range pull-ups from Durant, and then the same from Harris, had the Nets up 15-10 five minutes in. Milwaukee eventually closed the quarter with a 9-0 run for a 34-29 lead going into the second quarter.
It was another quick start to the second quarter, with the Nets making five of their first seven shots — including all three 3-pointers — while opening up with an 18-8 run and jumping back into the lead, 47-42, eventually going into halftime up a point.
The start of the second half was more of the same. The Nets made six of their first eight shots, three of their first four 3-pointers, and consecutive threes from Durant and Green had Brooklyn up 72-64 three minutes into the third quarter. A 92-71 lead late in the quarter was Brooklyn’s largest to that point before the Bucks closed the quarter with an 8-2 run to cut the Nets’ lead to 94-89 going into the fourth quarter.
The Bucks extended that burst into a 17-5 run, with Pat Connaughton’s 3-pointer putting Milwaukee back into the lead with a 98-97 edge two minutes into the fourth quarter.
But Brooklyn burst back from there, starting with Brown ripping away an offensive rebound for a putback. Harden made two free throws, and after Giannis Antetokounmpo scored for Milwaukee, Harden floated in a runner in the lane, Durant drove and popped for two, and Harden flipped in a transition layup for a 10-2 run and a 107-100 lead with 7:54 remaining. It was a Brook Lopez 3-pointer that got the Bucks even again at 110 with five minutes to go, sending the Nets and Bucks flying toward their high-wire finish.
“This is one of the top teams in the league over the last four, five years and they have a lot of continuity on their roster, so it was good to kind of play against a team that has an identity already,” said Durant. “And for us, it was a good gauge for our guys, but we’re not too excited about it, we’ve gotta get back to work tomorrow.”