The Nets won Game 1 of their first round series against the Bucks in a 115-107 game that didn’t even feel as close as that final score indicated despite the loss of James Harden a minute into the game with an aggravation of his hamstring injury. Harden will be out for Game 2 as well, and as such Brooklyn has a tough task ahead to hold homecourt against a Milwaukee team that will be looking for a much better offensive performance after a sloppy shooting night in Game 1.
Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were terrific as expected, but in Harden’s absence it was Blake Griffin and Mike James who stepped up to combine for 30 points that was really the difference in Brooklyn’s opening game victory. Whether they can get similar efforts from the supporting cast in Game 2 will go a long way in determining whether they can match the offensive output from the opener where they steamrolled Milwaukee for the first three quarters of play.
On the other side, Giannis was excellent and Brook Lopez had a strong performance, but Khris Middleton had an awful 6-of-23 shooting night, Jrue Holiday wasn’t much better at 7-of-19 from the field, and as a team Milwaukee was a disastrous 6-of-30 from three-point range. It may be as simple for the Bucks as hitting shots, but they also seemed to fall in love with isolation play against Brooklyn rather than utilizing the ball and player movement that helped them dominate Miami in the first round.
From a betting perspective, the Nets covered as 4-point favorites but the came came in well under the total of 239.5.
Game 2 TV Info
Tip Time: Monday, June 7; 7:30 p.m. ET
TV Network: TNT
Game 2 Betting Lines (via DraftKings Sportsbook)
Series Price: Nets -220, Bucks +175
Point Spread: Nets -1.5 (-112), Bucks +1.5 (-110)
Total: Over 234 (-110), Under 234 (-110)
Money Line: Nets -117, Bucks -103