NBA: Milwaukee Bucks vs Brooklyn Nets | 24 December, 8:30 AM (PST)

[Mary C]

Against their archrival Bucks, the Nets risk their seven-game winning run. Making plays down the stretch the fourth quarter allowed the Brooklyn Nets to capture the first six victories of their winning run. The Nets’ seventh victory was one of the NBA’s most impressive offensive displays of the year, and they’re eager to see how their follow-up effort holds up when they visit the league-leading Milwaukee Bucks in Friday night. The Nets are averaging 125.1 points, shooting 55.9 percent from the field, and making 42.6 percent of their 3-point attempts during their seven-game winning run. In addition, Brooklyn has averaged 28.1 assists, 6.9 steals, and 5.9 blocks since its previous defeat on December 4 against the Boston Celtics. 

Thanks to a faultless performance in a 143-113 thrashing of the visiting Golden State Warriors, who were missing Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Andrew Wiggins, Brooklyn’s statistic during the streak greatly climbed on Wednesday. The Nets led the Warriors by as much as 44 points and had scored 91 points at halftime, which is the third-highest total in NBA history for a first half, which is the third-highest total in NBA history for a first half. This comes after they overcame a double-digit deficit in their previous two victories. With 42 assists, the most in the NBA this season, Brooklyn set season highs in points, field goal percentage, 3-pointer and assists. 

The Brooklyn coach, Jacque Vaughn, observed, “Every day’s game presents itself. We have a chance to face Milwaukee on Friday, which provides us a chance to test out our level of concentration against a very good team tonight. You take care of business.” Kyrie Irving missed the Nets’ excellent performance because he strained his right calf during Wednesday's workout. Nine players scored in double figures without Irving, but no one played more than 29 minutes. By halftime, Edmond Summer had added 16 points; Royce O’Neale had added 14, and Kevin Durant had tallied 21 of his 23 total points. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 34 of his 43 points in the second half of the Nets’ 110-99 loss at Milwaukee on October 26. This season, the Nets are 5-6 versus teams with winning records. 

Durant stated, "It's a championship-caliber team that's going to give us a tough test. And we're looking forward to it." After missing Saturday’s defeat to Utah due to sore knees Antetokounmpo has put together two games with 40 or more points. After suffering a 114-106 defeat at Cleveland on Wednesday, the Bucks are 3-2 when he scores at least 40 points. Since winning four straight games, Milwaukee has split its last six contest, and on Wednesday, it was unable to overturn a 15-point lead after the first quarter. The Bucks struggled to find secondary scoring as Khris Middleton missed his third consecutive game due to a sore right knee and will miss another one on Friday. Antetokounmpo ended with a season-high 45 points.