Harden Can’t Stay Healthy
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
By Andrew Rosario
It only took 43 seconds in game one and it was not the way the Brooklyn Nets wanted to start their second round of the playoffs against the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis (The Greek Freak) Antetokounmpo. Driving to the basket looking to make a pass, Harden pulls up under the basket and reached for his right hamstring. Motioning to his bench, Harden walks off the court and into the locker room never to return. His absence would be felt immediately as the Bucks took advantage taking a 20-11 lead after a Giannis basket. Brooklyn righted themselves closing the gap 32-30 at the end of the first quarter. Guard Kyrie Irving scored 9 points with Kevin Durant chipping in 8.
Brooklyn took its first lead of the second quarter (44-42) after an Irving jump shot. The Nets then went on a 15-6 run expanding their lead (59-48) before the Bucks would go on a run of their own outscoring Brooklyn 13-4 to cut the lead to 63-61 at halftime. The Harden-less Nets then took control in the third quarter as they outscored Milwaukee 35-23 as Durant scored 13 points.
The fourth quarter would just be a formality as the closest the Bucks would get is 115-107 in the loss. Durant led Brooklyn with 29 points, Irving 25 and Joe Harris 19 (5- 3 pointers). Antetokounmpo led all scorer with 34. It was announced that Harden’s injury would sideline him for game 2 that took place Monday night. The question facing Milwaukee was what adjustments would they make so they would not go down 2-0 before going home.
Nothing good ever happens when a team loses a star player, especially in the playoffs. Because Harden missed 20 regular season games, first year head coach Steve Nash had to find the right combination to make up for the Beard. The Nets picked up right where they left off in the second half of game 1. They continued to exploit the Bucks zone. Durant scoring 13 first quarter points as Brooklyn took a 36-19 lead. Said Nash of the first quarter start, “great start he began. “Guys were prepared and hungry. They battled, fought and scrapped and did the little thing that it takes to win”.
The second quarter saw Brooklyn get seldom used starter Brian Brown contribute 11 points to go along with Durant’s additional 8 points (21 for the half) as the Nets went into halftime with a 65-41 lead. More impressive was their defense. The Nets forced 14 Bucks first half turnovers and did not have one themselves.
By games end, the Brooklyn Nets put on an offensive clinic connecting on a 21-3 pointers (50%), shooting 52% in total. They held Milwaukee to only 44% and a paltry 29% from 3-point land in the 125-86 lopsided victory. Joe Harris (13-points, 3-7 from downtown) talked about the team’s defensive improvement. “I think a lot of it is effort, he began. “There’s a level of continuity where I think as the season has gone on, we’ve improved on the defensive end and that’s just the ability to play off one another. Defense takes time to get familiar with one another.”
The Brooklyn Nets held serve in taking the first two games at Barclay Center supported by the raucous crowd. Nash knows it will be a different Milwaukee Bucks team when they host the next two games. “Whether you win by 2 or 25 it’s just one game,” said Nash. “We held home court. We performed well in the two games. For our group, we want to keep growing, keep getting better. We’re still very new to one another. There’s a lot of things we can continue to refine and improve. We’ll try and improve in Milwaukee.
No Harden, no problem for Brooklyn in there dominating victories. There is no timetable for Harden’s return. Two more wins and the Brooklyn Nets will advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since the 2002-2003 season.
