Bucks 86
Nets 83
MILWAUKEE – Kenyon Martin was back from his two-game suspension. He strengthened the Nets’ defense early. He carried the offense late.
And he wasn’t enough.
The third quarter, a Net asset of late, became a nightmare landscape of bad offense as Jersey squandered a double digit lead. Given new life, the Bucks, the NBA’s hottest home team, ralled, overcoming Martin’s 15th double-double of the season, to win their 10th straight at home, 86-83.
The Nets had a chance to grab the lead with 10.8 seconds remaining in the game, but Jason Kidd missed a 10-footer. Toni Kukoc (Bucks-best 17 points) rebounded, was fouled and bagged two free throws at :08.1 for an 84-81 lead. The Nets got a quick two from Aaron Williams, then fouled Erick Strickland (11 points) at :04.4. Strickland bagged two free throws and the Nets’ last gasp to tie was a hurried and failed Kidd heave from the left corner.
Martin, who picked up four fouls in the final four minutes before fouling out with 52.2 seconds left, finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds in his first game in nine days after serving his two-game NBA-imposed suspension for fighting.
Jason Collins (12), Kerry Kittles (10) and Williams (13) also scored in double figures for the Nets, who got eight assists and nine rebounds from Kidd.
The Nets were looking to tie at 78 when a questionable charge call against Kittles gave the ball back to the Bucks. They converted on a Desmond Mason (10 points) jumper at 1:59 for an 80-76 lead. Williams and Milwaukee’s Joe Smith added two points for each side before Kittles drained a 3-pointer at :39.1 to make it 82-81
It seemed that, in his return, Martin brought the defense along with him. After all, the Nets had surrendered 200 points in the two games he missed: 97 in a loss at Philly and 103 in their triumph over Washington.
In the fourth quarter, Martin was huge as the Nets erased a nine-point deficit. He scored 10 of his points in the session, including 10 straight Nets points that led to a 76-76 knot at 3:09.
The Nets had gone from 10 up in the third to down nine in the fourth, which opened with a 58-58 tie. Using largely second-unit players, the Bucks forged a 14-5 streak that included a pair of 3-pointers by Kukoc; the second of them knocked the Nets into a 72-63 hole with 7:58 left.
The Nets shot like, well, the Nets, last night, and yet they stayed in the game through their outstanding defensive efforts. In the first half, they clamped the Bucks into .308 shooting.
And when the Nets started to find their shooting range, they were able to pull into halftime with a 37-32 lead. After trailing, 19-14, at the start of the second quarter, the Nets completed a stretch where they denied the Bucks on 13 of 14 shots, from 2:13 of the first until 5:43 of the second. By that time – with an assist from uncanny backcourt rebounding – the Nets led, 24-21.
