That’s when Brooklyn caught fire and willed their way back into the game. Nash saw Harden’s inability to push the pace and installed Durant at point guard in the second half.
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He was scoreless on 0-of-6 shooting from the field, and he was slowing down Brooklyn’s offense as the lead ball handler. Harden was legitimately killing the Nets in the first half as the Bucks built a 16-point lead heading into the break. Somehow, he gave the Nets 46 minutes on a night when he was obviously struggling to move around the floor.
#Mlb the show 17 team epics series#
With Irving out and the series suddenly tied, Harden was determined to gut it out. Harden had no business playing in Game 5 as he nursed a strained hamstring, but Brooklyn head coach Steve Nash put the decision to play in his superstar’s hands. James Harden somehow played 46 minutes on one leg Next time someone criticizes Durant for wanting to play with other superstars, show them this game. There was nothing Milwaukee could do to stop him.ĭurant powered Brooklyn’s second half comeback almost by himself. This was Kevin Durant at his absolute apex.ĭurant sliced Milwaukee’s defense in every possible way, initiating the offense like a point guard, draining pull-ups from three-point range and inside the arc, powering his way to the basket and still finishing with soft touch. This was an all-time great player putting up an all-time great performance in a pressure situation to save his team’s season. Let’s not forget this is a player who suffered a devastating Achilles tear only two years ago. Perhaps most impressive of all, he played all 48 minutes of the game. An incredible performance /potAt0UVJZ- SB Nation June 16, 2021ĭurant ended the night with 49 points, 17 rebounds, 10 assists, three steals, and two blocks on 16-of-23 shooting from the field, 4-of-9 shooting from three, and 13-of-16 shooting from the foul line. Kevin Durant showed why he’s one of the greatest players in NBA historyĮvery player in NBA playoff history with a 45+ point, 15+ rebound, 10+ assist game:Įnd of list. This game is going to reverberate around the NBA for some time. Anyone who watched that game immediately sensed they were witnessing an instant classic. The Nets defeated the Bucks, 114-108, take take a commanding 3-2 lead as the series heads back to Milwaukee on Thursday. It was the Nets who came away with a comeback win to take control of the series. The cascading pressure that was palatable on both sides would end up giving way to one of the great playoff games we’ve seen in recent memory. The Nets were always playing this season with championship-or-bust expectations, and they weren’t going to get much sympathy from the rest of the league for their poor injury luck. Harden’s status would get upgraded from doubtful to questionable to ‘game-time decision’ throughout the day before he was announced in the starting lineup.Īfter a humiliating second round exit in the bubble last year, it felt like the Bucks were catching every break they needed to upset Brooklyn and reach the conference finals. The Nets originally ruled out James Harden for Game 5 a day earlier as the superstar guard recovered from a strained hamstring suffered in the first minute of the first game of the series.
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Suddenly, Brooklyn was the desperate team.
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Both teams had protected their home court to this point, but it felt like the momentum was swinging to Milwaukee’s side after stealing their second straight win in Game 4 while the Nets lost Kyrie Irving to injury. Historically, the team that wins Game 5 of a 2-2 series goes on to win the series about 82 percent of the time. The Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks were both well aware of the stakes heading into Game 5 of their tied second round series in the 2021 NBA Playoffs.