James Harden (hamstring) has played less than a minute in the first four games of the series against the Milwaukee Bucks. Kyrie Irving went down with an ankle injury in the first half of Game 4. So the Brooklyn Nets “Big 3” has become a healthy one-Kevin Durant, and coach Steve Nash will have to adapt.
The Bucks have gotten back into the series with back-to-back-home wins. Along with better 3-point shooting, their defense has been far better. Over the recent two games in Milwaukee, Durant averaged 29 points per game. But he went 9-for-25 from the floor in Game 4 (1-for-8 from 3-point range). In Game 3 and 4 combined, he was just 20-for-53 from the floor (37.7 percent).
Steve Nash says P.J. Tucker is pushing the envelope against Kevin Durant
Durant is perhaps the toughest player to defend in the NBA. An acknowledgement of “he’s going to get his” no matter what is inherent, so the plan has to be to deny him space to operate, and make things tough on him. After Game 4, Nash took exception to how Bucks’ forward P.J. Tucker is getting it done.
He’s playing extremely physical and made it difficult,” Nash said. “That’s his role on their team and I thought it was borderline non-basketball physical at times, but that’s the playoffs. You have to adapt and adjust. Something definitely in a sense changed from the way the game was played in Brooklyn and here in Milwaukee.”
Of course, Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer disagreed.
He’s just guarding him,” Budenholzer said. “If that’s not basketball, I don’t know what is. So, I think we’ve got to just keep the same mindset, to guard him, to make everything tough, so nothing changes.”
Nash is a first-time head coach. But he played on big playoff stages. So he knows when there’s a message to be sent, in this case to the officials. The two games in Milwaukee were physical contests the Nets lost. They’ve lost their grip on the series to some degree. So talking about Tucker’s defense on Durant is a calculated call to the officials to keep an eye on it. Using the term “non-basketball” only helps. Phil Jackson would be proud.
