How will the Milwaukee Bucks defend Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant?
The start of the playoff series between the Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn Nets on Saturday at the Barclays Center in New York will finally satiate the anticipation of an Eastern Conference match long in the making — namely since Khris Middleton’s potential game-winning three-pointer rattled off the rim back on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
A Bucks sweep of a two-game mini-series at Fiserv Forum on May 2 and 4 by three and six points, respectively, only added to the hunger.
Yet there is one huge unknown heading into this series: How will the Bucks handle the Nets' “big three” of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving? The trio did not play together in any of the games (Harden missed two, Irving one) and the loss of starting guard Donte DiVincenzo complicates matters for the Bucks.
But there was one constant for the Nets, and that was Kevin Durant.
In those three games, Durant scored 104 points on 37-of-76 (48.7%) shooting, including 13-for-25 (52%) from behind the three-point line. He tied a career high with seven threes May 2. He shot 17-for-20 from the free-throw line, pulled down 28 rebounds and had 14 assists.
The Bucks also forced him into 11 turnovers.
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And while this isn't meant to overlook Harden and Irving, how the Bucks can counteract Durant's sheer scoring ability will play a big role in if they can advance out of the series.
To be clear, the Bucks know they cannot stop one of the game’s all-time elite scorers from filling up the basket.
Their one goal, recited over and again from head coach Mike Budenholzer down to the Bucks’ own "big three" of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday before and after each of the regular-season games, is to simply "make it tough" on the 32-year-old four-time scoring champion.
Now, there is technical nuance in that of course.
"He’s 7-feet with a clip," Holiday said. "Obviously you just gotta do what you can. Keep your hands back, but at the same be aggressive. Any chance you can get to kind of get a hand on the ball or shade him a certain way that for us might be more comfortable, try to get little advantages like that."
But while there may be a plan for specific coverages, that can all go out the window once the game goes live because: A) Durant can break a coverage on his own and B) Harden and Irving could collapse it in another area.
So, really, defending Kevin Durant over the course of a series requires effort, and help.
"We gotta show a lot of bodies, we gotta show hands, be active and when we see him pulling up we gotta try to contest it with the closest man," Antetokounmpo said.
And while it will be unknown how the Bucks use their personnel and when with Irving and Harden on the court with Durant, it’s safe to say that Antetokounmpo, Middleton, Holiday and P.J. Tucker will all get their shots at him.
In the first game in Brooklyn, Holiday and Middleton had their turns. On May 2 it was Holiday, Middleton and Tucker. On May 4 it was Antetokounmpo, Middleton and Tucker.
Of course, other Bucks were mixed into defending Durant depending on the flow off transition or switches — and they will be in this series — but those four players will likely get the bulk of the work.
For what it is worth, Durant’s field-goal percentage dipped in each regular-season game played against the Bucks, from 50% on Jan. 18 to 48.5% on May 2 to 47.6% on May 4.
"It’s extremely tough," Middleton said of defending Durant. "You’ve got a guy who’s pretty much the same size as Giannis with unlimited range. He’ll shoot over you. I don’t know if Giannis will shoot over you from three unless he has to, but you’ve got a guy like KD, he’s a guy who that will just pull up in your face like you’re not there. All you want to do is try to contest and try to change his shot and hope he misses."
It may not seem like much, but in a regular-season series decided by an average of 3.6 points — one extra miss can make all the difference in going home or heading to the Eastern Conference Finals.
"We have to show our length, be physical without fouling just to make it tough in every type of situation," Middleton said.
An intangible that will make this effort perhaps that much more difficult than the regular season is that Durant is also one of the game’s all-time playoff performers.
He’s played in four NBA Finals with two different franchises, won two titles, earned two Finals Most Valuable Player awards. To go with his 29.2 career playoff scoring average, he’s scored 30 or more points 65 times. He’s also had 39 double-doubles.
Lest anyone think he wouldn’t score as much with Harden and Irving on the court, Durant started off his Brooklyn playoff career by averaging 32.6 points per game on 54.6% shooting from the field and 50% from behind the three-point line against Boston.
Perhaps the one thing the Bucks can do that they didn’t show a ton of in the regular season is have Antetokounmpo spend time defending Durant. It’s a tall ask, but it was one he embraced May 4.
"It’s part of who I am and it’s part of growth," Antetokounmpo said after that game. "And at the same time there’s going to be time that I’ve got to guard the best player on the other team and I was able to do that to start of the game and take the challenge of guarding him and tried to make it as tough as possible on him."
That growth bloomed last series, as Antetokounmpo drew Jimmy Butler for 19 minutes, 55 seconds over four games per the league’s tracking stats. His next closest guard in terms of minutes was Trevor Ariza at 5:28.
Butler scored just nine points on 3-of-12 shooting. He handed out 10 assists and turned the ball over four times in those minutes.
Now, Antetokounmpo and the Bucks will have to do it again with a more lethal scorer.
"When you play against the best in basketball, of course you’re going to be drained," Antetokounmpo said. "It’s playoff basketball and if you want to be great, it’s going to hurt a little bit. So you gotta be mentally prepared for that.
"But at the end of the day, going into the first series coach wanted me on Butler and I wanted that challenge. Obviously he’s one of the best players on the Miami team, it’s a challenge that I wanted. I think as a team — I wasn’t the only one that got a chance on Jimmy. P.J. got a chance on Jimmy. I think Jrue got a chance on Jimmy. As a team I think we did a great job on him.
"But now, going against KD, James Harden and all those guys, I think everybody’s going to have a chance on them. We’re going to play at least our games so, we’re going to try to throw things at them to see what works. Game 1 might be me. Game 2 might be Khris. Game 3 might be P.J. We’re just going to see how it works.
"When you go against them, it’s a challenge. As I said, it’s going to hurt to do it, but at the end of the day greats can never get bored. You’ve got to do it over and over and over again. That the only way you can — not stop them because there’s no way you can stop them — you can just make it as tough as possible for them."
Follow Jim Owczarski on Twitter @JimOwczarski.