By Adam Roberts – 6/7/2021
Down 1-0 in their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Nets, the Bucks are gearing up for Game Two tonight in Brooklyn, and doing so knowing that one of the biggest cogs of the Nets’ big three has been ruled out for tonight.
James Harden won’t play tonight night due to what’s being called “right hamstring tightness” by the team. Today on Keyshawn, JWill, and Zubin the possibility of Harden’s limited availability for the rest of the series was also not ruled out. The guard played less than a minute of Game One after grabbing his leg on the first play of the game. Brooklyn won Game One, regardless, 115-107. This despite a 34-point performance from Giannis and a host of coaching changes Mike Budenholzer had to run through with Harden out.
The challenge for the Bucks tonight will likely be two-fold. First, the team needs to make wide-open shots; of the team’s 30 3-point attempts, a number of them were should-makes. Another 6-30 evening won’t cut it.
Second, Jrue Holiday needs to neutralize Kyrie Irving to force Kevin Durant to be a do-it-all tonight. Holiday will likely be matched up with Irving whenever he’s on the floor. Irving played 45 minutes on Saturday and scored 25 on 11-26 field goal shooting with 3 3’s.
ESPN La Crosse 105.5 is the area’s home for the NBA postseason, and you can catch tonight’s game starting right after The Sports Lead at 6.