Can Durant Put On The Cape And Lead The Bucks To A Game 5 Victory?

The basketball world will be watching as Kevin Durant enters unknown territory: the lone superstar that has to carry his team to a championship.

Down two of their superstars, the Brooklyn Nets return home to face the surging Milwaukee Bucks in a pivotal Game 5, tied at 2-2. Durant will be the sole superstar from the trio on the court tonight as Irving has been ruled out potentially the rest of the series with his ankle injury and Harden is still recovering from his hamstring, though he has been upgraded to questionable. 

It’s a peculiar situation the Nets found themselves in as the success of this team is built on the trio being available to take on the titans of the East. Up in front of KD, tonight will be a two-time MVP in Giannis and two All-Star level cabler players in Holiday and Middleton. And with Joe Harris, seemingly in a shooting slump, this could spell doom for the Nets’ chances to make out of this series if neither Harden nor Irving can return.

When Irving went down in the second quarter on Sunday, things got ugly for Durant who had a bad shooting night (9-25 FG) though he finished with 28. PJ Tucker was able to play physical defense that got Durant out of his game and therefore struggled to carry the Nets to a Game 4 victory. 

With all this said, I still believe the Nets have a chance to win this series with KD as the sole guy on the team. A challenge I’m sure he eternally relishes though met with a shrug during Monday’s afternoon presser. 

“I might have to handle the ball more, might have to post up more, come off pin-downs more,” Durant said. “I’ve just got to be prepared to do everything out there, just like every night.”

What will work in the Nets’ favor hopefully will be the officiating back on their home court which was different on the road. The Bucks have been to the line more than the Nets this series (67-42) which is startling with the isolation players on the Nets side and how they get to the basket. As I said, Tucker was able to play way too physical defense on Durant to which I'm sure coach Steve Nash has made an emphasis to the referee to watch for. 

Something else Nets fans can be hopeful for is the Bucks returning back to the norm in these playoffs with their poor shooting. Right now, they are shooting under 30 percent from deep, which is shocking because they shot close to 40 percent in the regular season. Bryn Forbes who was the key sharpshooter for the Bucks the previous series is at 26 percent for the series. Middleton and Holiday haven’t been anything to be proud about either, especially Holiday who is only averaging 13 points off 39 percent shooting. Game 4, was the best they shot all series as a team, and judging from these playoffs I don’t see that continuing. And if Giannis is going to come down and jack horrible transition threes, that will only play into the Nets’ favor.

People will no doubt and have already confirmed that these next three games will be a referendum of Durant’s career as he “stacked the deck” for all of his championship teams. They will compare this to LeBron’s previous situations of having to overcome obstacles with ‘no help’, which I don’t agree with, but it is what it is when it comes to NBA fans. Durant however has to show up in this big spotlight there’s no denying that. He has to score big and it needs to be efficient. That will only make things easier for his teammates to come through and help him hold down the fort until help arrives. 

I look forward to a big game from the superstar in Game 5, a game I think they will win on their home floor. After all, he is Kevin Durant, you know who he is.