3 Takeaways from Brooklyn Nets miraculous win vs Milwaukee Bucks

The Bucks were without two future Hall of Famers. The Nets were on a losing streak but that didn’t tell you anything about how the game would go.

Animals with hooves and antlers are often thought of as a transportation system for a certain guy in red around this time of year. But tonight, we saw a handful of them spend their evening tussling with guys defined by their nylon mesh fashion.

Their efforts were ineffective — as Brooklyn took home its 12th victory of the season by a 111-105 final score. The Nets again played the role of the pesky underdog team giving trouble to a unit with aspirations beyond the regular season. This time they finished the job.

It should always feel good to beat the team which in the eyes of many Nets fans undeservedly ended Brooklyn’s best bid at a title this decade, but tonight’s win is of a bittersweet nature. In the wake of the Schröder trade, most Nets fans have assumed duty as tank commanders, and tonight, the Nets strayed from that battle plan. Here’s what we learned in the process.

“Tank” is Not in this Team’s Dictionary

Jordi Fernández and the Nets haven’t given an inch all year as the Nets have danced around a “tanking” agenda. Even after the team traded back for its picks out of nowhere this summer, incentivizing losing for the first time in years, all the talk from Brooklyn’s end has been about competing. Tonight, the play mirrored that.

It’s hard to not start at the end, where the Nets had several chances to let this one go, but instead held on in the most dramatic fashion. Noah Clowney’s prayer triple with the shot clock running down, followed by Cam Johnson’s four-point play made Nets fans stare this win in the face for the first time all night, whether they wanted to or not.

But it wasn’t just the big hits down the stretch from Cam Johnson and Noah Clowney that pushed the winning agenda. To climb a mountain, the steps at the bottom of the trail are just as crucial as those at the top, contrary to how it might seem. The Nets handled those well all the same, hanging on even when the shots weren’t falling, but more on that later.

The point is, any fans of other teams or those fully committed to the tank should expect a stressful road going forward, barring any additional trades. Despite their fans, and perhaps their front office telling them what to do, the Nets who sit on the bench simply do not give a damn. They made it as clear as ever tonight that they’re going to play to win every time they take the floor.

Clutch Gene?

I’m going to piggyback on our reporting on the Johnson and Clowney triples here, but frankly, I don’t feel guilty. Sure, we probably would have preferred to see big makes like that from Johnson last year or the year before instead of this one, but they were marvelous nonetheless.

When you look at it from a wider scope, it’s even more so. Brooklyn’s been a middle-pack team so far this year in crunch time, ranking 16th and 14th in clutch field goal and 3-point percentage. But last year, the Nets ranked 11th and 10th worst in the same categories. Johnson especially struggled to can momentum swinging triples.

Tonight though, he made all the plays he needed to down the stretch, as did Clowney, as did Keon Johnson. The latter two are even more impressive when you consider their youth (20 and 22 respectively) and how that factor often usually doesn’t ally with clutch play.

The clutch gene isn’t something I totally buy into. If you have good enough players to blow a team out so there’s no need for “clutch” play to begin with, that’s better, right? But from a pure ball-watcher’s standpoint, the Nets flashed it tonight as good as anyone else in the NBA.

Perhaps it’s due to the limited expectations of the team this year, alleviating the pressure behind each shot. Perhaps it’s due to lady luck finally starting to favor Brooklyn after all these years. Regardless, it’s fun to watch and adds another layer to Brooklyn driving up the trade value of their pieces.

Can’t Put a Grit on a Scale

It’s hard to imagine anyone checking in on Brooklyn’s halftime stats tonight and deciding to tune into the game. From both the field and from three, Milwaukee shot better than Brooklyn by over 15% and trailed on the boards.

Even the eye test, which included Brook Lopez taking what the Nets taught him in 2016-17 and bringing it into its final form, told you this is a blowout in favor of the home team.

But as old school fans will tell you, this isn’t a game you watch with a calculator, pencil, and paper in hand. Brooklyn kept stride by dominating in the hustle department, and although their hot shooting down the stretch ultimately led them to the win, that gritty play during the first few frames kept this one from boiling into a blowout.

Posting .404/.263 shooting splits at the break, Brooklyn’s six extra shot attempts generated by their seven offensive rebounds and 12 forced turnovers was their floatation device as Milwaukee attempted to drown them with .561/.444 numbers. As expected, bigs Day’Ron Sharpe and Nic Claxton led the way in that effort with two OREBs each, but top scorers for the night Shake Milton and Cam Johnson also got in on the action.

Again, Brooklyn’s 7-of-11 three-point shooting performance down the stretch will get all the love. The Nets don’t win the game without that — but they’re also not in position to win the game without those early-game labors. Brooklyn grit? Yes, indeed.