B/R NBA Staff Roundtable: Nets vs. Bucks Round 2 Predictions

The Brooklyn Nets capped off a gentleman’s sweep of the Boston Celtics on Tuesday, winning the fifth and deciding game 123-109. The offensive juggernaut now heads to the second round, where it will face the Milwaukee Bucks, who exorcised some bubble demons by sweeping the Miami Heat.

With the way both teams are playing, this matchup has best-of-the-postseason potential.

After logging just over 200 minutes together in the regular season, there was a touch of mystery surrounding Brooklyn’s star trio of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving. The first round surely cleared up the shroud.

In the 130 minutes those three shared the floor against Boston, Brooklyn scored an eye-popping 371 points and outscored the Celtics by 66 (136.9 offensive rating and plus-23.1 net rating).

Of course, Boston was without Jaylen Brown, and there may not be another team in the league better equipped to slow the Nets than the Bucks. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday seem tailor-made to go toe-to-toe with Brooklyn's Hall-of-Famer packed Big Three.

Will the slower-built Bucks finally have a playoff breakthrough after dominant regular seasons in 2018-19 and 2019-20? Or, will the recently assembled and relatively untested (at least, collectively) Nets get to the Eastern Conference Finals in their first campaign together?

Bleacher Report’s experts have the breakdown below.

The initial thought here—and rightfully so—is: How the bleepity bleep does any team stop the Nets offense four times in seven tries? It is an endeavor of impossibly harrowing proportions, the mere concept of which will convince people, not unreasonably, to render Brooklyn as their default pick.

So, Bucks in seven.

Milwaukee has the requisite length and peskiness, even without Donte DiVincenzo, to throw a wrench in the Nets offense. Giannis Antetokounmpo had another fantastic defensive season while being saddled with more individual responsibilities. Khris Middleton is capable. Jrue Holiday can keep pace with any of Brooklyn's Big Three. And P.J. Tucker, while not Heyday P.J. Tucker, gave Jimmy Butler fits in the first round.

Please do not confuse this with faith in the Bucks running away. It won't be easy. The Nets have an offensive rating of 131.4 in the postseason. I repeat:131.4. And that's with their attack, at times, devolving into smatterings of "Here ya go, Star X. Try to score." But Milwaukee can take advantage of such situations—including one like Brooklyn's Game 5 against Boston, in which the Nets approached it with the fire and furor of a mid-January road tilt against the Pistons–more than most teams, all while putting more pressure on the superstars three to defend themselves. 

Live rebounds and forced turnovers should immediately become fast-break catnip for the Bucks. Brooklyn also doesn't have a ready-made answer for any of Milwaukee's stars. A mix of Kevin Durant, Bruce Brown, Joe Harris, Nicolas Claxton and—if he recovers from a strained plantar fascia in his left foot—Jeff Green will be assigned to Antetokounmpo, Holiday and Middleton, in some form and combination. That doesn't profile as neutralization by committee.

The Nets do have the capacity to muck up the Bucks' frontcourt rotation. Their Brown-at-the-5 lineups are getting shiftier, and using Green (again, if healthy) or Blake Griffin doesn't amount to deploying a traditional big. Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis could find themselves in trouble early and often. But Milwaukee navigated potential mismatches against the Heat by continuing to let BroLo patrol the paint. Bringing him up top isn't as important when Giannis, Holiday and Middleton all exist. Failing that, they have the seldom used, albeit still wildly tantalizing, Giannis-and-Tucker frontline they can roll out. 

Whatever style the Nets want to play, the Bucks are built to withstand it. Combine their newfound stylistic malleability with the gap in defensive talent, and they've got juuust enough to earn the benefit of the doubt over Brooklyn's superstar orgy.

Prediction: Bucks in seven.

—Dan Favale

I want to pick the Bucks. I really do. When you look at the roster, it appears to be built about as well as any to at least bother Brooklyn’s stars. Holiday will be motivated by the opportunity to defend either Harden or Irving. Giannis is one of the only players in league history who has the length and athleticism to make things difficult for KD.

It’s just impossible to pick against Brooklyn’s combination of talent.

Those three stars have settled so perfectly into roles in which they aren’t really required to sacrifice much. Against Boston, Kyrie had the lowest usage percentage at 24.5. Harden is dealing as a playmaker much like he did in his first few years in Houston.

And KD looks as good as any star has after an Achilles tear.

Add Joe Harris’ floor spacing to the mix, and even Milwaukee’s roster appears short on counters.

Prediction: Nets in seven.

—Andy Bailey

The Brooklyn Nets have three elite scorers, but the team has yet to be tested defensively. The Milwaukee Bucks will be a problem in a seven-game series.

The Nets just aren’t equipped to deal with Milwaukee’s size. Giannis Antetokounmpo will be a real problem. Even in his prime, Blake Griffin would have struggled against the two-time NBA MVP. After his Achilles injury, can Kevin Durant carry a heavy scoring load and defend Antetokounmpo? Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis will also have an advantage.

Jeff Green would help, though he’s still out with a foot injury. The Bucks won’t have Donte DiVincenzo, also out with a foot issue, but Milwaukee has Jrue Holiday, one of the best defensive guards in the league. Khris Middleton has good length and is another 20-point scorer. 

Stopping Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving won’t be easy for Milwaukee, but Brooklyn will have the more significant issue getting stops.

Prediction: Bucks in six.

—Eric Pincus

As far as pure talent goes, this should be an NBA Finals matchup. It's that good.

The Nets will likely enter as the favorites, but the Bucks surprised everyone with a first-round sweep of the Miami Heat. Now that those demons have been exorcised, a confident Milwaukee team led by a two-time MVP in his prime should be terrifying to play against.

While Giannis Antetokounmpo vs. Kevin Durant will grab most of the headlines, I'm most interested in watching how well Jrue Holiday can limit the damage from both James Harden and Kyrie Irving. The Bucks beat the Heat by 98 points in Holiday's 145 minutes over the four games, the greatest plus/minus score by any player in the playoffs thus far.

The Nets will still put up points, but who's stopping Antetokoumpo in the paint? Blake Griffin (too slow), Nic Claxton (too skinny) and DeAndre Jordan (too old) certainly can't.

This should be a high-scoring affair, one that will go the entire seven games. As much as I'd like to see Antetokounmpo be rewarded for signing a long-term deal with a small-market team, I still think the Nets' star power gets them a title this season.

Prediction: Nets in seven.

—Greg Swartz

The Bucks were completely in control once they survived their Game 1 overtime thriller against the Heat.

Milwaukee certainly did a more convincing job of handling business in the first round than Brooklyn did, as the Nets allowed a very shorthanded Boston team to hang around and even win a game.

From a personnel standpoint, nobody can completely stop the Kyrie-KD-Harden trio, but Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton are as good a shot as any team has to at least slow them down.

No team in either conference has looked as dialed-in across the board as the Bucks have, so I'm giving them the edge.

Prediction: Bucks in six.

—Sean Highkin