Seven things to know about the Bucks’ next playoff opponent, the Brooklyn Nets
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It’s official; the Milwaukee Bucks’ path to an NBA title will go through Brooklyn, with the Nets finishing off the Boston Celtics to earn a berth in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The third-seeded Bucks and second-seeded Nets will begin their series Saturday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn; the Nets are among the trendy picks to win the NBA title, and it will mark the first time Milwaukee is an underdog in a playoff series since 2018.
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Here’s what you need to know about Brooklyn:
Projected starters 
Top reserves
Coach: Steve Nash
They have three of the NBA’s best players
The “Big Three” in Brooklyn have been waiting for this moment. When the Nets signed Kevin Durant in free agency before the 2019-20 season, it was understood that there would be a waiting period, since Durant missed all of the season with an Achilles injury. The Nets doubled down on their window for success when they traded for James Harden in January. Still, the Nets have continued waiting, with just eight games in the regular season in which Durant, Harden and Kyrie Irving were healthy and sharing the floor. They’d been on the court together for just 5.8% of the squad’s regular-season minutes, according to FiveThirtyEight.com.
That includes the three games against the Bucks, with Brooklyn missing one of its stars in each game.
But the Nets haven’t missed a beat, gaining the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference and a 48-24 regular-season mark.
Irving was the most available of the three this season, appearing in 54 games and averaging 26.9 points. Durant averaged the same in 32 games, and Harden posted 24.6 in 35 games. In the postseason, Durant has averaged 34.8 and Harden has averaged 26.3 with 10.8 assists and 6.5 rebounds. With the trio at full strength, this is quite simply one of the most efficient offenses ever. Even with their stars sidelined at varying intervals, Brooklyn’s 117.3 offensive rating was the best in the league.
Oh yeah, and then they have the league’s best three-point shooter 
Joe Harris, a player Brooklyn retained with a four-year, $75 million free-agent deal after a respectable 14.5 points-per-game showing last season, is shooting 47.5% from three-point range. That’s best in the league of anyone approaching Harris’ volume (6.4 attempts per game), though former Bucks player Tony Snell is hitting 56.9% on 2.3 attempts per game for Atlanta.
Harris is less involved in the offense inside the arc this season — which makes sense, because the Nets didn’t have Durant and Harden last year — and his overall points, rebounds and assists are naturally down from last year. But he’s lethal from distance and surely will test the Bucks, who will dedicate their best defenders to the dynamic presences elsewhere on the floor.
Harris hit seven three-pointers in Game 2 against the Celtics, but he was just 3 of 9 in Game 3, and that was part of Brooklyn’s demise in that particular contest.
The Nets added Blake Griffin, but he’s not really the problem 
Then there’s newly added Blake Griffin, although the former Clippers and Pistons big man was scoring just 4.5 points per game in the playoffs with 3.3 rebounds in 21 minutes entering Game 5 on Tuesday. He’s not a focal point here, and Milwaukee has matched up with him well in the past.
Bruce Brown also gets healthy minutes off the bench, and 22-year-old Nicolas Claxton has seen his usage increase with Jeff Green sidelined by injury. These are the peripheral players who will concern the Bucks with so much attention dedicated elsewhere.
The Nets aren’t going to shut the Bucks down defensively 
Brooklyn’s defensive rating of 113.1 was among the 10 worst in the league, and there’s a chance every game in this series could wind up with both teams clearing 120 points.
The Nets are prone to surrendering offensive rebounds, they’re one of the worst teams in the league allowing second-chance points and they’re close to a bottom-third team at generating points off turnovers.
Boston’s Jayson Tatum lit up the Nets for 50 points in Game 3 of their first-round series, and he followed it up with 40 more in Game 4.
Obviously, the Nets can afford to be just so-so on defense when they can score like they can.
Jeff Green’s injury could be a big deal 
The Bucks are figuring out how to carry on without one of their starters, injured Donte DiVincenzo. Brooklyn has its own injury concern with Jeff Green, a 34-year-old veteran who enjoyed a bit of a renaissance season, shooting 49% from the floor and 41% from three.
A strained plantar fascia kept him out for all but two games of the series with Boston and will limit him at least at the start of the Bucks series. Green allows the Nets to use smaller lineups because the veteran 6-8 big man can guard bigs, and he also can play on the perimeter in bigger lineups.
With DeAndre Jordan’s minutes reduced to nothing in the postseason and Griffin a liability on defense, Green’s absence leaves the Nets short on size.
In his stead, the 6-11 Claxton theoretically will have a larger role, but Claxton played only 8 minutes in Game 4 (although he was plus-15 in those minutes) after a rough Game 3 (minus-21 in 16 minutes).
Giannis and Brooklyn coach Steve Nash have some (good) history 
Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo and first-year Nets coach Steve Nash went viral in 2018, showing off their acumen in another sport with a video during all-star weekend of the two heading a soccer ball back-and-forth 94 times. Nash was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame that year alongside former Bucks coach Jason Kidd.
A former back-to-back MVP winner himself, Nash endorsed Giannis for the 2020 award in an interview last summer.
Giannis grew up a soccer fan and flashed some soccer skills in the four-game sweep of Miami.
How did the Bucks fare against the Nets in the regular season?
Needless to say, this was an entertaining regular-season series, with the Bucks winning two of the three close contests.
Jan. 18: Brooklyn 125, Milwaukee 123. Playing at the Barclays Center, Kevin Durant’s three-pointer with 36 seconds to go gave the Nets the winning points. Khris Middleton had two looks from distance thereafter that were no good, including one with 1 second left after Durant lost the ball out of bounds. It was a big showdown with the Nets’ acquisition of James Harden still fresh in everyone’s mind. Harris and Green combined to go 9 for 12 from three-point range. Kyrie Irving didn’t play.
May 2: Milwaukee 117, Brooklyn 114. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 49 points, and his block of Durant proved to be one of the highlights in a nationally televised Sunday afternoon showdown that lived up to the hype, even with Harden sidelined. Giannis, Middleton and Jrue Holiday combined for 93 points and certainly looked the part of a “Big 3.” This time, Jeff Green and Joe Harris were held to 4-of-13 shooting.
May 4: Milwaukee 124, Brooklyn 118. Two nights later, the Bucks locked up a tiebreaker with the Nets (that never came to matter) by sweeping the two-game miniseries at Fiserv Forum. Antetokounmpo scored 36 points, including clutch free throws with 51.9 seconds to go, as the Bucks again bypassed a Harden-less Nets team. Irving scored 38 points.
JR Radcliffe can be reached at (262) 361-9141 or jradcliffe@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JRRadcliffe.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Seven things to know about the Bucks’ next playoff opponent, the Brooklyn Nets