Game 3 between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Brooklyn Nets could best be described by one word: ugly. It was a total slugfest between a pair of teams that have championship aspirations, and by the time the final buzzer sounded, the Bucks defended their home court by coming out on top, 86-83.
One moment that summed the night up came when Kevin Durant and PJ Tucker went nose-to-nose. The two did some jawing with one another, which led to teammates and officials stepping into to break the pair of Texas Longhorns up.
It was the kind of ultra-tense moment you expect in the playoffs, but this had an interesting twist. Despite things not being all that aggressive outside of some normal jawing, a security guard sprinted onto the court to break things up. As for why that happened, Joe Vardon of The Athletic reported that the dude was Durant’s personal security guard.
It was, as far as low-scoring, knock-down, drag-em-out, playoff games of the ’90s go. At one point, with less than five minutes left in the third quarter, Durant and P.J. Tucker were nose to nose, speaking heatedly, as though they were upset. Durant’s personal bodyguard, who is on the Nets’ payroll, charged the court to break them up, and shoved Tucker. The Bucks’ crowd, at full capacity for the first time this season, serenaded Kevin with “f— KD” chants.
The fact that he’s on the Nets’ payroll makes it a little less weird, but still, it’s a bit strange that this all happened. Regardless, tensions didn’t boil over, which is all you can really ask for.