Well this one stings. For many reasons. The Nets and Bucks have what is likely the fiercest rivalry in all of basketball, but it is fair to wonder if that would be the case if the games were refereed fairly. Last playoff series versus Milwaukee saw Giannis slide under Kyrie Irving while he was in the air, taking him out for the series, and somehow avoiding any sort of foul on the play. Now, after Khris Middleton was rightfully ejected for almost ending Bruce Brown’s career, the refs found another way to mess up by not calling a flagrant foul on Wesley Matthews for taking out Kevin Durant’s legs on a three-point attempt. This capped off a game in which the Bucks had more than double the Nets’ free throw attempts, and Kevin Durant did not attempt a single free throw until overtime. Richard Jefferson summed it up perfectly on the Yes Network broadcast, exclaiming “It is literally impossible for Kevin Durant to play 40 minutes of basketball and not have one free throw attempt”.
Despite the refs’ abomination of a game, the Nets still could have done more to pull this one out. Andre Drummond missed two crucial free throws down the stretch. Goran Dragic hurt more than he helped. James Johnson does not belong anywhere near the rotation. So, what does this all mean? Two things. One, Steve Nash has to be better. It was clear as day that tonight was not Dragic’s night, yet he was in the game in place of Bruce Brown until there were five minutes left. James Johnson continues to get minutes over Kessler Edwards, who played very well in the first quarter before he was taken out only to not see the floor again. If Nash is not going to be the best coach with rotations, he at least has to be a players’ coach. He appears to be a very nice person and if the players did have an issue with him, it would be fair to assume that he would not be the coach anymore. But when his star players continue to get hacked to the point where they are narrowly escaping serious injury and he is standing on the sideline silently, it is difficult to comprehend what exactly it is that he is bringing to the table.
The other takeaway from this game is that the NBA and its officials need to be better. The referees got it right when Middleton dangerously took out Brown on a dunk attempt, so why was that same protection not applied when Matthews flew in and kneed Durant as he went up for a shot? The NBA is a star-driven league, and if the association is not going to protect its star players, we will continue to see playoffs where it becomes survival of the fittest, and the only healthy teams will have a road to the Finals. Last year alone, notable injuries in the playoffs included Trae Young, Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, and Anthony Davis. Before that, we have seen Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, and others going down in the postseason, drastically affecting the outcomes of series. Not all of these instances were caused by dirty plays, but if there are already so many injuries to begin with, the NBA needs to do a better job holding perpetrators and referees accountable so that fans can see the best that the league has to offer in the playoffs.
Not to be overshadowed by all of this talk of refereeing, the Brooklyn Nets need to do a better job on the defensive glass. It was a significant issue for them in the second-round playoff series against the Bucks in 2021, and they lost the 2nd chance points battle 17-5 again tonight. These are the kind of issues that can linger and kill a potential title run if it does not get sorted out.
The moral of this article is that the Bucks won, Giannis Antetokounmpo did a tremendous job of putting pressure on the referees, but NBA officiating has to be better, Steve Nash has to improve, and the Nets cannot afford to keep losing focus down the stretch.
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