Can they do it?

That’s the question I asked myself as the Nets inched closer to tie the game as the second half carried on. A 26-point deficit turned into 23, then 15, then 13, then nine.

A third quarter where Brooklyn’s bench stepped up was what gave the team a shot. In a game where Giannis Antetokounmpo looked unstoppable (he finished with 41 points after scoring 24 in the first half), the Nets outscored the Bucks 37-23 in the third quarter, holding the Greek Freak to just two points.

To put that in perspective, the Nets scored a total of 35 points through the first two quarters after the Bucks started the game on a 16-2 run. 

Joe Harris got the ball rolling by hitting some threes, leading the Nets in a 10-0 run out of halftime. His 3-of-4 performance from three put him in third-place in three-pointers off the bench in Nets history, putting him behind Mirza “Fearza” Teletovic’s record of 200.

Once Harris started to cool down, the rust started to fly off D’Angelo Russell. He made one deep three, and then he drained one from deeper. He had 10 straight points to bring the Nets within single-digits. The confidence he had in his shot was a big step up from past games. 

While the deficit hovered around 10 points for the rest of the game, the Nets could not break through, with the Bucks finishing the win with a final score of 116-91. The Bucks almost always had an answer, and a double-double from the Greek Freak is hard to top. 

The Nets got sloppier at the end of the game to allow Milwaukee to finish on a high note. A valiant effort from the Nets who attempted the impossible, but it was Antetokounmpo’s night. Milwaukee ended up getting its 26-point lead back at the end, and then some, after a 35-point fourth quarter. 

After shooting 26 percent at the half, the Nets ended up shooting 37.1 percent from the field and 8-of-34 from three. The hero for Brooklyn was its bench, which had the 46-21 advantage. Russell started to hit his stride, so that is a good sign for the future. 

Next up: the Timberwolves to cap off the back-to-back.