Brooklyn Nets: Are the 76ers a better matchup than Milwaukee?

The Brooklyn Nets have hit a rough patch of late. While Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were able to clinch a playoff spot with James Harden on the sideline due to his hamstring injury, the losses have been piling up in recent days, with a loss to Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks standing out as a very concerning performance.

While Durant’s 42 would be enough to help the Nets win on most nights, Giannis decided to go supernova and completely eviscerate Brooklyn, scoring 49 points in a dominant performance. Giannis will try to pad his stats again Tuesday night as Brooklyn looks to get back on track before the postseason.

The Nets, should they win their first-round playoff series, will likely take on the No. 4 seed New York Knicks in the postseason (or Atlanta Hawks) if they get the top seed, but they will take on either Milwaukee or the Philadelphia 76ers if they lose out on that top seed. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons are lethal, but will they be the team Brooklyn needs to avoid?

The Nets showed during their last game that they are ill-equipped to take on Giannis with or without Harden in the lineup. If they draw Milwaukee in the playoffs, Brooklyn will genuinely need to be worried about an upset.

The Brooklyn Nets should worry about the Milwaukee Bucks.

While Harden would have obviously been a huge help on defense, the Nets decided that unless Giannis starts rising up from three, putting DeAndre Jordan on him would be the best way to defend him considering how he could neutralize his finishing in the paint. That plan backfired, as Giannis got 36 of his 49 with Jordan defending him.

Giannis might not be the best shooter in the world, but he is too big for Harden to defend for the entire game, and the Nets don’t have anyone who is quick enough to defend him in the paint. Nic Claxton can play, but he’s still out, and putting someone as young and skinny as him on Antetokounmpo could be a recipe for disaster.

Even if you take Giannis out of the equation, the Bucks still have a tremendous two-way star guard in Jrue Holiday, one of the most underrated players in the league in Khris Middleton, and a veteran stretch big in former Brooklyn Nets star Brook Lopez. That is a squad that can give the Nets issues on the defensive side.

The Nets will be in for a dogfight against either Milwaukee or Philadelphia, but the Giannis factor is something that could genuinely tip the scales in favor of the Bucks. The 76ers will be a tough hill to summit, but the Bucks might be the team that matches up with Brooklyn better than anyone else.

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