Brooklyn Nets: 4 playoff takeaways from victory over Milwaukee Bucks
1. How Much of this Really Matters?
It feels hard to check yourself while riding the momentum after a win like this, and given everything that happened to this team over the last few months, fans indeed deserve to celebrate this victory.
But at the same time, nobody wants to make a mountain out of a mole hill.
Although the Nets played without Allen, Harris, and LeVert, the Bucks also sat Brook Lopez, who averages 11.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per game. Furthermore, Milwaukee also sat Antetokounmpo and All-Star Khris Middleton during the game’s second half. While the win still stands as an incredibly impressive accomplishment, it came against a half-speed Milwaukee effort, while also offering the Nets very few opportunities to scout their future opponents.
This especially will hurt a player like Allen, who missed out on an opportunity to size up Lopez before the two square off during the playoffs. Lopez, a seasoned and experienced big, strikes one as someone far less likely to benefit from a “warm up” game against Allen than vice versa, as Allen’s inexperience still manages to hold him back a bit as a third-year player.
With that considered, to take this win as any reason to favor Brooklyn’s chances over Milwaukee’s during a playoff series stands as an incredibly naive and, quite frankly, thoughtless dissertation.
The Bucks still hold the reigning and most likely future MVP at their dispose, as well as 22 additional wins compared to the Nets. As stated earlier, indulging in this victory comes as no crime by any means, but to do so to an extent that somehow forces the Nets to underestimate their opponent remains the last thing this “sticks and stones”-based team needs right now.
