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Milwaukee – Late in the fourth quarter on Sunday afternoon, Giannis Antetokounmpo turned the ball around. His frustration was palpable, and he ran so fast that when he launched himself into the air to try and disable Alize Johnson, he had to grab onto the ledge to make sure he landed safely. A few seconds later, after he regained his balance, he erased Reggie Perry’s hook shot to start a quick break that ended up with powerful hits in an alley.
That wave of a two-time MVP was an exclamation point in a 107-96 win in Game 4 for the Milwaukee Bucks as they tied the second-round series with the Brooklyn Nets at 2-2. Leading as usual, Giannis finished with 34 points and 12 rebounds in his third game in the series with at least 30 points and 10 rebounds.
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On either side of their hero’s thrilling sequence in the final minutes, the jubilant crowd inside the Fiserv Forum burst into their favorite chant: “Bucks in six!” This time last week, after the Bucks’ embarrassing loss in Game 2, that was out of the question. Now, it’s a real possibility, especially with James Harden and Kyrie Irving potentially unavailable moving forward.
Halfway through the second quarter of Game 4, Irving stepped up to stop the ball and twisted his ankle heavily on landing. He went straight to the locker room as soon as he got to his feet, and never got back into the game. After he left, the Nets won 63-56, which was too close because they walked in at the wrong time to make the final score respectable.
Irving’s X-rays came back negative, but he still had to undergo further evaluations, and he reportedly left the arena on crutches and in walking shoes. At this point, there is no timeline for his recovery, and Nets coach Steve Nash said all the team can do is hope.
“I have no idea what will happen with Key in the coming days,” Nash said. We’ll cross our fingers and hope it’s better than I don’t know – better than anything – better than missing the next game? “
Nash added that he did not want Irving to be injured by pressing Harden to return before he was ready. Harden came out limping with a hamstring injury in the first minute of Game 1, and hasn’t played since. While he is improving to the point of doing work on the court, there is still a “gap to make up” before he can play at full speed in a playoff.
“I don’t want James to rush back,” Nash said. “If he’s able to get into the next game or the next, that’s great. If not, we don’t want to speed him up again and risk doing something worse or making this a long-term injury.”
Suddenly, the Bucks have a great opportunity. Yes, the Nets still had the advantage of Durant and home grounds, but the premise of their super team was based on having their superstars available. With one of them still great, and with two of them they would be able to manage, but they would no longer hit the world.
But while it’s impossible to ignore the fact that the Nets are at the bottom of two future family halls of fame, the Bucks can’t change their approach or lose the focus that helped them return to the series.
“It doesn’t matter who’s there,” Pat Connaughton said. “We want to make sure we keep playing our style of play.” “For us, it’s about staying focused on our brand in basketball. The solidity on the defensive end, the things that we instill in ourselves and in each other at that end. Then the movement of the ball, the movement of the player that we have on the offensive end. I think that’s the most important thing. And we just keep moving forward. Whoever’s standing in front of us, whatever other team puts in front of us, I don’t think we need to put a lot of weight into it.”
Except for some kind of miraculous recovery from Harden or Irving, the Bucks should be the favorite at this point to return to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second time in three seasons. After a few disappointing playoffs, things are starting to work their way this time around. They cannot let this sudden turn of events go to waste.
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