Giannis Antetokounmpo is probably the most dominant power in all of basketball.
So dominant that on an island with the unstoppable power that’s the Bucks MVP, Royce O’Neale did what the Nets ought to have completed all sport lengthy.
Foul.
Forcing the Greek Freak to hoist free throw after free throw might have provided another actuality from what the Nets skilled of their 118-104 loss to the Bucks on Tuesday.
Antetokounmpo completed with a game-high 33 factors to increase Milwaukee’s successful streak to fifteen video games. He handed the Nets their fifth loss of their final six video games and seventh defeat of their final 9.
And after Brooklyn jumped out to an early 15-point lead, Antetokounmpo flexed the largest muscle in his sport — brute power — making the Nets pay time and time once more with a flurry of debilitating rim finishes.
“We were good in some areas where we had two bodies on him, and he was still able to convert early in the first half and really took it up a notch in the third quarter and made a difference,” head coach Jacque Vaughn stated postgame. “You can elect to foul him, try to at the rim, put him on the ground, you can do some strategies. We tried to put two bodies on him. Pretty impressive by him still able to finish at the rim.”
The first and most vicious ended the primary quarter and sucked the life out of a Barclays Center crowd with effervescent pleasure given the early lead: Nets stopper Dorian Finney-Smith picked up Antetokounmpo properly behind the halfcourt line, and the Bucks star walked him down three-quarters of the ground from the again court docket to the rim.
But beginning heart Nic Claxton rotated over to assist weak facet, and his handcrafted a cameo within the poster Antetokounmpo created with a one-handed flush over two Nets defenders.
Silence instantly befell the world.
“It’s tough,” stated Nets star Mikal Bridges. “It’s tough to game-plan against him. I mean everyone tries to game-plan him and the numbers he still put up, it’s tough but I think you just got to be together as a team at all times because if he sees one lane, just a little opening, it’s tough to guard him. So a guy like that you just got to be locked in at all times all five guys to stop a guy like that.”
From there, the bully ball commenced.
Antetokounmpo tried to go at Claxton the next possession however slipped on a spin transfer and received his shot rejected. The following possession, he went proper again at Claxton and dunked on him with the proper hand.
And the possession after that, Bucks veteran ahead Jae Crowder threw a lob over Finney-Smith’s head that Antetokounmpo caught and flushed with two arms.
Antetokounmpo scored 11 of his 33 factors within the second quarter. He drove by Mikal Bridges for a layup on the rim and hit a pull-up three in transition. He had a chance to make it 13 within the interval when he leaked out in transition and obtained a cross with solely the a lot smaller O’Neale in-between him and the rim.
O’Neale assumed the place — knees sq., arms folded on prime of each other — and shoved Antetokounmpo to cease the play.
“I don’t think there’s many players in the league that can guard him one-on-one,” Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie stated. “We’re not essentially the tallest crew on this planet or the largest crew on this planet, however we’ve simply gotta construct that wall, and our exercise degree needs to be extraordinarily, extraordinarily excessive attempting to power turnovers and be lively — and perhaps take some expenses. I don’t suppose we received any.
”He turned it up a notch, and we didn’t match it.”
This is the kind of dominant presence the Nets had been as soon as acquainted with when Brooklyn was dwelling to 2 of the league’s most unfazed scorers in Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
With these two stars gone, the Nets are figuring issues out on the fly.
And for a lot of the primary half, the Nets seemed like a reliable basketball crew, in contrast to the product they placed on the ground when down 50 within the 44-point loss out of the All-Star break and far nearer to the trouble that just about earned them a victory over the Hawks on the buzzer on Sunday.
The drawback in Brooklyn, nonetheless, with a new-look roster isn’t the primary three quarters.
It’s closing video games with out a bona fide, All-Star degree nearer. It’s matching an impression like Antetokounmpo’s with one other participant on their roster — an not possible job now that the celebrity period has come to an finish.
Mikal Bridges completed with a team-high 31 factors, working time and time once more from the mid-range. He shot 11-of-19 from the sphere and 3-of-7 from the foul line. Spencer Dinwiddie added 26 factors on 5-of-10 capturing from downtown, and Cam Johnson adopted an excellent efficiency in opposition to the Hawks with one other 19 factors and 7 rebounds on Tuesday.
That was the extent of Brooklyn’s scoring punch in opposition to the Bucks: The Nets mustered simply 5 bench factors, with second-unit standout Cam Thomas capturing 0-of-6 from the sphere for 2 factors in his 23 minutes on the ground.
Meanwhile the Bucks had 5 gamers rating in double figures, led, after all, by Antetokounmpo. Former Nets star heart Brook Lopez put up 13 factors and 10 rebounds in his return to Barclays, and ex-Net Jevon Carter scored 11 factors on three-of-four capturing from downtown off the bench.
The Nets exited the All-Star break homeowners of the NBA’s seventh-toughest schedule. They face the Knicks within the second sport of a back-to-back at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, then journey to Boston to play the league-best Celtics on Friday.
The Nets have fallen behind the Knicks and at the moment are sixth within the Eastern Conference. They are two video games in entrance of the Miami Heat. If the Nets fall to seventh or decrease, they should earn their playoff spot within the Play-In Tournament after the common season.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com