Milwaukee Bucks: James Harden injury will shape series with Brooklyn Nets
The Milwaukee Bucks already find themselves in an early hole in their Eastern Conference Semifinals series with the Brooklyn Nets.
Having dropped Game 1 that ended up being a 115-107 win in favor of Brooklyn, the margin for error has gotten that much slimmer for the Bucks to pull off a gigantic upset over the favorite to come out of the East and potentially win this year’s title.
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However, the potential loss of James Harden, who re-aggravated his hamstring injury 43 seconds into the Nets’ series opening victory over the Bucks will certainly
After all, Harden had previously missed 21 games during the regular season after having suffered a strained hamstring that he returned from on the eve of Brooklyn’s playoff run. That stretch overlapped with the Bucks’ pair of victories over the Nets early last month as well.
When asked about Harden’s latest setback, Nets superstar Kevin Durant didn’t hold back on what it means for the Nets moving forward in the series. Per Brian Lewis of the New York Post:
"“We try not to be too emotional out there, but losing one of your leaders like that first play of the game, we had to regroup for a few minutes and figure out what was next,” Durant said. “But the coaching staff did a great job of moving forward and guys came in and just tried to play extremely hard. We didn’t care about anything else but playing and executing the game plan and leaving it all out there.“We’re gonna be thinking about James. Definitely gonna call him when I leave here and see how he’s doing. … It’s a bad situation, man. I hate that it had to happen.”"
How will the Milwaukee Bucks respond as the Nets have lost James Harden?
No one wants to see any player get injured, regardless of fan affiliation. And without knowing the full extent to which the Nets will be without Harden moving forward, the Bucks are already quite familiar with going up against the Nets when their ‘Big 3′ becomes the dynamic duo of Durant and Kyrie Irving.
On the flip side, the Nets have grown quite accustomed to playing without Harden after making the blockbuster addition for him midway through the year. Now they’ll have to rely on Durant and Irving even further, along with their supporting cast that got the better of the Bucks in Game 1.
For the Bucks, not only do they have to adjust following their Game 1 defeat, they also have to adjust to a Nets team that will likely be without Harden. Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer already made the surprising move to turn to P.J. Tucker to fill in for the injured Donte DiVincenzo in the Bucks’ starting lineup. Will the Bucks continue rolling with that now that the Nets will be without Harden?
Furthermore, how does the Nets’ loss of Harden affect the Bucks’ defensive gameplan that will obviously revolve around Durant and Irving. All of this is only scratching the surface in what looks to be a monumental loss for the Nets and it provides the Bucks a plum opportunity to take advantage, as cold as that sounds.
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Clearly, there are no shortage of questions of how much of a series changer the Nets losing Harden. Now we’ll have to wait to see the full extent of his injury and what the timeline looks like for him to potentially return.