MANILA – The Brooklyn Nets bounced back on Tuesday night and toppled the Milwaukee Bucks, 114-108, to secure a 3-2 semifinals series lead.
The Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, was on fire after the one-time Most Valuable Player ruled the basketball court with his triple-double of 49 points, 17 rebounds, and 10 assists in 48 minutes of action – making him the first player in NBA playoffs to record such scoreline.
Jeff Green tallied 27 points, including seven three-point conversions, while Blake Griffin contributed 17 points for the Nets during their Game 5 match against the Bucks.
James Harden struggled in his return from a right hamstring injury with five points on 1-of-10 shooting, eight assists, and six rebounds, while Kyrie Irving was absent due to a right ankle injury.
Milwaukee surged to a 12-2 start behind baskets by Jrue Holiday for a 29-15 edge. It stretched to 59-43 in the second period via outside hits from Brook Lopez and Pat Connaughton.
The Bucks continued their onslaught to have 17 points early in the third quarter before the Nets rallied to come to within 81-87 behind Green, Griffin, and Durant.
Brooklyn continued the late uprising in the fourth period to gain a 97-96 advantage via Durant’s triple.
The lead ballooned to 104-100, but Milwaukee managed to tie it at 104-all.
Two free throws from Harden enabled the Nets to reclaim the lead at 106-104.
After a split free throw by Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo, Durant drilled a triple to widen Brooklyn’s gap at 109-105 with 50.5 seconds left.
Milwaukee was still hanging around at 108-111 via Antetokounmpo’s split free throws before Brooklyn iced the come-from-behind win on free throws by Durant and Landry Shamet.
Antetokounmpo scored a double-double of 32 points and 12 rebounds for the Bucks. Khris Middleton had 25 markers, while Holiday contributed 19 points.
BOX SCORE:
BROOKLYN 114 – Durant 49, Green 27, Griffin 17, Shamet 9, Harden 5, Harris 5, Brown 2, James 0, Claxton 0.
MILWAUKEE 108 – G. Antetokounmpo 32, Middleton 25, Holiday 19, Lopez 15, Connaughton 10, Tucker 0, T. Antetokounmpo 0, Bryant 0.
QUARTERSCORES:
15-29, 43-59, 81-87, 114-108./PN
