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Brooklyn Nets blow late lead to Milwaukee Bucks, lose thriller 117-112

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Milwaukee Bucks v Brooklyn Nets
Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images

The Nets got a trio of excellent performances, and it was a great game, but Brooklyn’s efforts amounted to nothing after a soft second half

Barclays Center, even when the Brooklyn Nets don’t have a team chock-full of internationally recognizable superstars (can you believe that really happened?) is still a fun place to watch a basketball game.

It’s just not the most intimidating home-court for the Nets to defend, especially not when they’re playing internationally recognizable superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks on Kids Day, the backdrop for their Sunday afternoon contest.

Much of the announced crowd of 17,926 was simply there to watch a basketball game, or to watch Giannis up close and in person, confirmed by the swaths of kid-sized Antetokounmpo jerseys in the stands. Brooklyn would have to have to win some of their home crowd over on Sunday afternoon, but their event-planning staff proved clairvoyant…

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Pregame, Jordi Fernández said unprompted that Nic Claxton was “a big part” of his first win an NBA head coach, which came on October 27 against these very Bucks, and that Brooklyn would need a repeat performance.

Instead, Clax was even better, following up his 16-point outing on Wednesday with his best performance of the season. The stat-line, 21/10/4/3/2, is impressive enough, but more importantly, Brooklyn’s starting center looked like the healthy, unencumbered, aggressive version of himself that’s been missing to start this season. That the general spirit of his play showed up in the stat-line is merely a bonus…

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“I’m just getting my flow back,” said the 25-year-old. “That’s just me playing more games. My body, everything is just starting to come together. I need to be aggressive for us, especially right now with Cam [Thomas] being out and us missing some scoring.”

Whether Clax led the charge or rode the wave of energy we’ve been seeing from Brooklyn all season, the result was the same. And Barclays Center started to show their appreciation for the Nets’ effort, exploding as Dennis Schröder hit two high-wire buckets to give the Nets a 52-51 lead at the half.

Though Giannis bulldozed his way to buckets — a tired way of describing his game, but just so fitting — the Nets executed on defense. More often than not, Fernández’s team loaded up in the gaps, forcing ten of 16 turnovers in the first half, which won them the possession battle.

Even if they weren’t sprinting end-to-end for dunks, that allowed them to get into offense quickly, to shoot 16-of-35 from deep on the day. Dorian Finney-Smith, back from his left ankle injury, spent his 31 minutes diving on the floor for loose balls, battling with Giannis, or shooting 3-of-5 from deep. Though his stat-line was less impressive, he was another key participant in swinging the crowd firmly over to Brooklyn’s side.

Much like the first Milwaukee matchup, the third quarter was a party. Giannis threw his best punches en route to 34/11/4/1/3. Again, Brooklyn ate them, and built a 12-point lead toward the end of the frame. Claxton kept whizzing around the court, but he was ultimately a supporting character in the Cam & Dennis Show..

Johnson would score 26 total points, while Schröder turned in his best performance of the season: 34 points, ten assists, no turnovers, and pesky defense on an ineffective Damian Lillard.

The journeyman point guard may be closer to an All-Star this season than a backup, with Sunday’s game as an encapsulation of his efforts. The 31-year-old just couldn’t miss, erasing any memory of a rough shooting night on Wednesday by hitting step-back jumpers and floaters over and over again…

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“He’s been great,” said Claxton of his PG. “I mean, he’s been in the league for so many years, so he’s a veteran point guard and we all rally behind him. We’re still trying to connect with our pick-and-roll, but it’s all coming together. He was great tonight, as he’s been the whole season.”

But after Brooklyn’s bench won them Wednesday’s game against the Indiana Pacers, it was their turn to lose it on Sunday. Jalen Wilson, Shake Milton, Trendon Watford, and Day’Ron Sharpe combined to shoot 4-of-17 for 17 points, and Ben Simmons did not attempt a single shot. None of them won their minutes.

The Bucks closed the third on a 15-3 run to tie the game, erasing all Brooklyn momentum in the span of three minutes. AJ Green, Bobby Portis, Khris Middleton, and Gary Trent Jr. combined to score 60 bench points for Milwaukee, including 38 after halftime.

The Nets didn’t fold in the fourth quarter, but their momentum had vanished. The teams traded tough jumpers to begin the quarter, but Brooklyn’s offense wasn’t sustainable, no matter how hot Schröder and Johnson were. Claxton did not attempt one shot or free-throw in the fourth.

On the other end, Giannis either got the rim or drew two and passed to wide-open shooters; the Bucks finished 15-of-31 from deep.

“Number one thing [was] my mistake of doubling Giannis … probably we had to stay home and try to guard one-on-one,” said Fernández. “I don’t know if we could, but at that point, probably that would have been the best thing to do. So I take responsibility for that, opened up the 3-point line, and they made them.”

With two minutes to go, Nets-killer Bobby Portis found himself open on the left wing after Giannis drew two defenders; he put the visitors up for good. And wouldn’t you know it, the crowd erupted?

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The Nets never gave up. Not before, not after. Alas, this was not the same Milwaukee team from six weeks ago. Brooklyn may have survived body-blows early in the third quarter, but that did not cripple a suddenly head-strong Bucks team (now with Khris Middleton off the shelf).

After a few crunch-time possessions that went nowhere, the Nets had been defeated, almost stunningly. Given their effort, given their 3-point shooting, we’ve come to expect Fernández’s team to pull out that type of win, even if they entered at 10-13, even if Milwaukee is led by two Hall-of-Famers.

But Brooklyn’s head coach was adamant that it wasn’t an acceptable performance from his squad. Not his lackluster bench, not his three leading scorers who did the heavy lifting, nobody: “The reality is, in the last the minutes of the third and last six minutes of the game, it was a -19 for us. Our defense was atrocious … and if our guys [wearing] a Brooklyn Nets jersey don’t play harder defense, they don’t have a place in our roster. And they know it.”

A seething Fernández admitted the offense was less than ideal down the stretch, but brought it back to an integrity he didn’t see from his guys: “They were physical, and we were just wrestling instead of playing. And that’s tough, it was self inflicted. When you take breaks, and you don’t play hard all the way through, then when you really need it, you don’t have it.”

Though Giannis and Milwaukee’s bench did go out and earn this win, it wasn’t a typical Brooklyn loss. Now into December, their identity has been established: They occasionally don’t have the horses to compete, and we’ve seen them be overmatched, but it’s rare that they can seemingly play hard, disciplined, exciting ball…and then let go of the rope.

For the fans who experience each loss as either something to celebrate, or at least bask in the consolation prize of improved NBA Draft position, Sunday was another success. Dennis Schröder, Cam Johnson, and Nic Claxton played a highlight-filled game with a nail-biting ending. Dorian Finney-Smith is back, and he looks it too. These Nets may not be here for the long-haul, but for now, they are tremendously fun and ignite their fans.

But after blowing that second-half lead? Nobody in the locker room is seeing those silver linings.

Final Score: Milwaukee Bucks 117, Brooklyn Nets 112

Milestone Watch

Brooklyn’s three standouts give this edition of Milestone Watch a punch.

  • As previously mentioned, Dennis Schröder put up 34 points and ten assists with zero turnovers. He is the only player in the NBA with a 30/10/0 line this season.
  • He becomes the fifth Net ever to reach such a line, joining James Harden, Jason Kidd, Stephon Marbury, and Sam Cassell.
  • Schröder’s 34 points are not just a season-high, but the most he’s scored in over three years, and the third-most in a single game in his whole career. Sunday also marked his first 30/10 game, regardless of turnover count.
  • Nic Claxton’s 21 points mark a season-high, as do his three steals. This is the 11th 20/10 game of his career, and the first with multiple steals and blocks.

Injury/Minutes Report

For the first time in weeks, we were all set to have a clean injury report. There are no updates on Bojan Bogdanović and Cam Thomas, while Ziaire Williams is set to receive an update for his left knee sprain sometime this week.

But then, Noah Clowney, who was ruled available to play in Sunday’s loss to Milwaukee, did not enter the game despite Jordi Fernández pronouncing him “completely healthy.”

Pregame, the head coach confirmed Clowney would dress, but cheekily did not commit to playing him. When fielding a question about Clowney and Finney-Smith returning to action, the Spaniard deadpanned: “I never said that I would play both.”

Thus, it seems that Clowney’s lack of minutes on Sunday was a casualty of a roster growing healthy, with more than ten players making strong cases for minutes. In a crowded front court, we’ll see how Clowney’s minutes shake out, but he does appear to be fully recovered from his ankle sprain.

Next Up

Memphis Grizzlies v Boston Celtics
Photo By Winslow Townson/Getty Images

After another restful period, a rare third contest against a Western Conference opponent. The Brooklyn Nets will travel back to Memphis to face Ja Morant and the Grizzlies on Friday evening, with tip-off scheduled for 8:00 p.m. ET.