The Nets and Bucks battled through another thriller on Thursday night, with Milwaukee coming out with an overtime victory in a hard-fought battle in Brooklyn.
But just as they were in last year’s thrilling playoff series, fouls and physical play were at the forefront after the final buzzer, with the Nets clearly annoyed with some of the Bucks’ physicality.
Midway through the fourth quarter, with the Nets up by three, Bruce Brown went up for a wide-open dunk, but Khris Middleton came up behind and grabbed his arm, pulling Brown to the floor. Brown glared at Middleton, who was ejected, but Brown chalked it up to “a hard foul” after the game, but his teammates weren’t so understanding.
“They're playing pretty physical,” Kyrie Irving said. “I think they were a little reckless at times on a lot of their fouls, or a few of their fouls. That's who they are, but I just think it was just reckless sometimes.
“I’m not trying to get into individual plays. I’ll leave it to people that are observing the game, but it’s just recklessness. You know, just being in the way at times when it’s an easy play to avoid”
Irving already had lingering frustration with Bucks players “being in the way,” notably when he came down from making a layup in last year’s playoffs, and came down on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s foot, which, earlier this year, Irving questioned by saying Antetokounmpo’s foot “just happens to be in the way?”
That play sidelined Irving for the rest of the series, and fast forwarding back to Thursday night, Brooklyn got a brief care that it may have lost another star, when Kevin Durant came down grabbing his ankle after trying a 3-pointer late in overtime. Wes Matthews had hurried over to try and disrupt the shot, and Durant came down on his foot, though he finished the game and said he doesn’t expect to miss any games as a result.
Still, he wasn’t happy with the play.
“We all thought that was reckless right?” Durant said. “As soon as I hit the floor, he came running at my leg, but he didn't make a contest. I thought it was supposed to be a flagrant, but technically, I didn’t make the correct play to get a flagrant. I’m supposed to still be in the air while he’s underneath me.
“I'm hurting. That's two games in a row players walked up underneath me when I'm trying to make a basketball play. So my ankle’s hurt.”
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