The NBA All-Star Weekend festivities are officially behind us. Now it’s time for teams to confirm their contender statuses by making a final push before the playoffs. There’s no time to waste for Kevin Durant and the eighth seed Brooklyn Nets. What better way to make a statement than to knock off the defending NBA champions? Durant’s Nets face Giannis Antetokounmpo and the 36-24 Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 8:30 p.m. eastern time at the Fiserv Forum.
The legendary trio of Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving never worked out for the Nets, but Brooklyn still has time to salvage its season and 31-29 record. Harden is gone, but Durant could return from a knee injury that already cost him a full month of action. Brooklyn won’t have recently acquired point guard Ben Simmons in action yet, but veteran free agent signee Goran Dragic could see his first action with the Nets since joining the franchise less than a week ago.
As for the Bucks, they’ll still suit up without center Brook Lopez, who is still dealing with a long-term back injury.
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Kyrie Irving in action.
Nets vs. Bucks Preview
The Bucks are 20-11 at home while the Nets are 18-13 on the road. That’s not a massive advantage for Milwaukee, and Fiserv Forum isn’t exactly known as a house of horrors for visiting teams. Brooklyn desperately wants to make a statement as the organization attempts to salvage a horrendous season marred by injuries and Irving missing home games because of his vaccination status.
Adding Dragic was huge for Brooklyn’s second-half push, but the 35-year-old point guard has only played in five games this season. He’s fresh off getting traded by Toronto and bought out by San Antonio. Dragic was always a gutsy performer during his All-Star peak in Miami, but those teams were less top-heavy than the Nets. There’s also a chance that The Dragon isn’t ready to play by Saturday, which could sink Brooklyn’s chances in this game.
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The larger potential issue for the Nets is obviously facing the chance of playing without Durant. The 33-year-old still scores at an MVP level. His 29.3 points per game are right up there with Joel Embiid (29.6) and Antetokounmpo (29.4). At the All-Star break, the Nets were 24-12 when Durant played and 7-16 when he wasn’t available.
If their best player can’t go against Milwaukee, the Nets will need a Herculean effort from Irving, who has only played in 14 games and is averaging his worst field goal percentage since leaving Cleveland. Brooklyn’s other top scoring options are 36-year-old LaMarcus Aldridge, 33-year-old Patty Mills, and the recently acquired Seth Curry, who is averaging a career-high in points per game.
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Availability has also proved somewhat problematic for the Bucks, who sit three games out of first place in the Eastern Conference. Out of Milwaukee’s 60 games at the break, no player had more than 49 starts (Antetokounmpo). This Bucks squad isn’t as deep as the 2020-21 version, which boasted seven double-digit scorers and a healthy Brook Lopez.
However, Milwaukee is still an excellent three-point shooting team. They had the third-most three-point attempts (2,353), three-point makes (849), and points (6,790) in the NBA entering All-Star Weekend.
In a surprise twist, Brooklyn and Milwaukee are both
middle-of-the-pack scoring defenses
this season, despite the Bucks possessing some high-end defenders.
MVP Odds Update
Embiid had the best odds to win MVP at +125 coming out of the All-Star break
according to BetMGM. Antetokounmpo is third (+400) while Durant’s injury pushed him all the way down to +6600. The two-time champion with the Golden State Warriors can’t realistically win the MVP this year. He’s missed too much time. Meanwhile, I think the voters are still fatigued of Antetokounmpo (who won two of the last three MVPs) and could look to reward a newcomer like Embiid.
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