3 things to watch in Milwaukee Bucks fascinating game vs Brooklyn Nets

How will the Milwaukee Bucks try to defend Kyrie Irving?

Yeah, sure, Kevin Durant also exists but there’s no stopping him. I’m more interested in how they go about defending his co-star in Kyrie Irving.

He’s only played one of the three games against the Bucks this season and my goodness did he make up for the lost time. He had a scintillating game-high 38 points on 63.4 percent true shooting as well as five assists and a couple of steals.

You can have your opinion on Irving, but he’s averaging 27 points on nearly 60 percent true shooting this season. He’s as electric as ever this season on offense and wreaked havoc on the Bucks’ point of attack defense once already.

Jrue Holiday will be tasked primarily with defending Irving, but it goes beyond him. In their one meeting this season, Irving shot 4-of-9 against Holiday, which is solid but there are still 10 other made baskets to account for.

A big difference in this game will be the presence of Brook Lopez.

Irving shot 5-of-8 against Bobby Portis in that game and was very effective scoring at the rim with Portis there to protect it. I mean this as no disrespect to Portis, but he isn’t Lopez as a rim protector and that should have an impact on what Irving can do. He also went 2-of-2 against Serge Ibaka, so Lopez is their best shot here.

Also, after seeing zero minutes against the Sixers, I’d expect to see Jevon Carter out there tonight and to play more than the nine minutes he got against the Nets last game. If not for Irving then for the bevy of guards that the Nets have (Goran Dragic, Seth Curry, Patty Mills) and that’s where Carter will come in handy.

A first round matchup between these teams would be both hilarious and fascinating so tonight should be a fun one for the Milwaukee Bucks against a desperate rival.