The Milwaukee Bucks are officially headed to a Game 7 with the Brooklyn Nets in what has been a back and forth battle in these Eastern Conference Semifinals.
After embarrassingly blowing a 17-point lead in Game 5, the Bucks came into Game 6 with an immediate sense of urgency and never looked back from the opening tip. The Nets never claimed a lead throughout this game, although they certainly inched too close for comfort on multiple occasions before the Bucks eventually punched this one home with a 104-89 victory.
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Despite building up a lead that grew to as sizeable as 21 in the fourth quarter, the Bucks were still not themselves in several aspects throughout this contest, most notably their offense.
They shot just 37-of-82 (45.1 percent) from the field and an abysmal 7-of-33 (21.2 percent) from behind the arc, but still managed to cross the 100-point threshold and ultimately secure the victory to keep their playoff hopes alive.
With that being said, here are three takeaways from last night’s thrilling Game 6 victory by the Bucks over the Nets.
The Milwaukee Bucks dominate on the fastbreak in Game 6 win over the Brooklyn Nets
Consistent offense has been hard to come by for the Bucks in this series, meaning they will take any opportunity to get out in transition for an easy basket.
With Milwaukee snatching four steals within the first four minutes, they created several fastbreak opportunities to get easy points on the board early. This aggressiveness continued throughout the game, and by the time that final buzzer rang, the Bucks had racked up an impressive 26 points on the break. Not only were they playing pesky defense to create these chances, but they were ultimately finishing them as well, which has been a problem to this point with their oftentimes stagnant offense.
Unsurprisingly, the player that did the most damage was Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has proven himself to be a one-man wrecking crew in the open court. According to NBA.com/stats, the Greek Freak finished with 14 of Milwaukee’s 26 total fastbreak points, taking it to the rim time and time again looking to capitalize on the opportunity. More on his stellar efforts in a moment.
On the other hand, the Nets were far from impactful on the break as they mustered up just four fast break points for the night. One particular play that was making the rounds was of Brooklyn’s star guard James Harden, who did not look to make a run on the break after grabbing a steal early on. Of course, Harden has been hampered by a lingering hamstring issue in this series, and it is clearly hindering his play as he would typically show an extra burst of speed with a chance to score in transition.