Nets show resiliency sometimes isn’t enough
NY Post
The ball was where the Nets wanted it to be, needed it to be, safely tucked in Kevin Durant’s hands, seconds melting away in Game 7, seconds bleeding away in the season. Durant had already scored 48 points. He’d played every second, again, for the second time in three games.
He’d already nearly blown the roof off Barclays Center, draining a turnaround 22-footer that tied the game one second from the end of regulation, a shot that was maybe three millimeters away from being a game-winner, the tip of his toes grazing the 3-point line. Now it was Bucks 113, Nets 111, time dropping off the clock in overtime. The Bucks’ Khris Middleton missed a shot and the Nets decided against a time-out. What would’ve been the point? The ball was already where it needed to be, where it had to be. Durant shook himself free for a fraction of a second, made the same move he’d made earlier.It was only a three-second glimpse, but Matt Rempe, finally, showcased offensive strides. The ones he started talking about in the preseason — after a summer’s worth of work — and kept doubling down on, even when he fluctuated in and out of the Rangers lineup and shuttled back and forth to AHL Hartford.
In a different time, in a season to come, we may be inclined to wax poetic about the way this one played out. In a different time, in a season to come, the Nets will be seeking to stack wins and not losses, will be fighting for playoff seeding and not for a few extra ping-pong balls in the draft lottery this spring.
The NBA has an All-Star Game problem. Despite Adam Silver’s efforts to inject juice into the February showcase — including a format alteration to the 2025 game that is too confusing to attempt to understand before it’s inevitably changed again — there’s little interest in watching teams eschew defense for a series of layup line highlights. That also means the most entertaining part of the NBA All-Star Game is just like the Pro Bowl — debating over who should get a spot.