Milwaukee Bucks: 3 takeaways from 125-86 Game 2 loss to Brooklyn Nets

The Milwaukee Bucks have no answer for Nets’ superstars in Game 2 loss

The Nets were dealt an early blow in the series with the loss of James Harden in the early moments of Game 1. Yet they haven’t missed him whatsoever and their dynamic duo of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving has more than picked up the slack.

Of course, it helps to have both superstars in the first place and both Durant and Irving were much more lethal and unstoppable in their overall shotmaking and presence on both ends of the floor. Durant finished with 32 points on just 18 shots (4-of-8 from three) while Irving had 22 points on 17 shots (4-for-6 from deep) to steward the Nets to their biggest playoff victory in franchise history, per StatMuse.

No matter the defense and effort the Bucks put in when it came to the Nets’ pair of stars, it hardly made a difference for either Durant and Irving as they made easy work of Milwaukee on that end of the floor. The fact that the Nets were 30-for-58 on jump shots taken outside of the paint (51.7 percent) spoke to the masterclass shooting display that Durant and Irving led the charge on the hapless Bucks.

Not that Game 1 was a poor performance for either Durant or Irving, but their work in Game 2 reinforced how much more dangerous they can be to the Bucks throughout this series. And that work may be made short, given the trajectory this series is on at the moment.