Watching Milwaukee cruise to the NBA championship Tuesday night, Nets fans — whose team pushed the Bucks harder than anybody else this postseason, despite being decimated by injuries — surely couldn’t help but think two words:
What if.
As in what if James Harden and Kyrie Irving hadn’t gotten hurt. What if Kevin Durant’s toe hadn’t tickled the line on what was oh-so-close to being the winning 3-pointer at the end of regulation in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semis.
But Durant himself — in Tokyo with Team USA, going for his third Olympic gold medal — says he doesn’t allow himself those kind of thoughts.
“Not really,” Durant said after Team USA practice on Wednesday. “I mean, you played [to win]. No moral victories you know? You only want to be last team standing in the NBA Finals, in the playoffs. So, no.
“I mean, we understand how good we are, and our goal wasn’t just to push the Bucks; our goal was to win it. Unfortunately we didn’t. But congrats to the Bucks. They’re an amazing team who fought through a lot these last few years to get to this point, so nothing but respect for them.”
The Nets were good enough to stretch Milwaukee to Game 7. And that was despite Harden straining his hamstring just 43 seconds into the second-round series and not returning until Game 5, and being severely hampered. And it was despite Irving going down in Game 4 with a sprained ankle after landing on Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The Bucks star went on to an NBA Finals MVP performance, after Milwaukee swept the Heat, beat the Nets, drilled the Hawks and closed out the Suns in six games.
After Antetokounmpo’s mammoth 50-point performance in Tuesday’s 105-98 clincher, he appeared to throw some shade at Brooklyn’s Big 3.
“I wanted to get the job done; but that’s my stubborn side. It’s easy to go somewhere and go win a championship with somebody else,” said Antetokounmpo. “It’s easy. I could go to — I don’t want to put anybody on the spot — but I could go to a superteam and just do my part and win a championship. But this is the hard way to do it, and this is the way we chose to do it. And we did it.”
There have been several superteams in the league over the past decade, and LeBron James started the trend when he bolted Cleveland in 2010 and took his talents to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. James took it to an art form when he went to Los Angeles and lured Anthony Davis there last season.
Both of those master plans resulted in crowns for King James.
Durant watched and learned, and eventually became synonymous with superteams after he bolted Oklahoma City in 2016 to join the Splash Brothers in Golden State, which had won the championship a year before. He earned a pair of rings with the Warriors and likely would’ve won a third if he hadn’t ruptured his Achilles.
Injuries short-circuited the Nets’ push, even if Durant wouldn’t use the as an alibi. He gave all due respect to what the Bucks were able to accomplish, even referring to them as a dynasty after following up the best records in the NBA in 2018-19 and 2019-20 with the title this season.
“You know, that experience doesn’t happen for just anybody. So you respect those guys that’s been through that journey,” said Durant.
“And then Milwaukee forming somewhat of a dynasty with that team. I know it’s the first chip, and I know a lot a lot of people call you a dynasty after a few. But the continuity of that team is something that’s impressive, and how they continue to keep building and adding and now they’re champions now. So you can appreciate that.”
Durant may appreciate it, but Brooklyn will be in prime position to take that crown next season. Even on the eve of the Bucks’ coronation, the pundits and oddsmakers were projecting Durant and his Nets will rule the league in 2021-22.
Brooklyn (+225) was installed as the betting favorite by William Hill and BetMGM, with James’ Lakers also ahead of champion Milwaukee. Apparently Las Vegas is expecting to see that ‘What If’ become a reality.