MILWAUKEE — First, Steve Nash lost his temper. Then, the Nets lost the game.
Nash losing it probably shocked the basketball world. But the loss? The Nets blowing a third-quarter lead to collapse in a 110-99 defeat to the Bucks probably didn’t surprise a soul that has watched them play this season.
The Nets led by 12 coming out of the halftime locker room, and were still up 70-66 with 4:24 remaining in the third quarter. But Nash complained after Giannis Antetokounmpo forearmed Patty Mills to the court with no foul called, and became irate when ref Josh Tiven hit him with a second technical for his protestations.
The sight of the normally mild-mannered Nash — his eyes bulging — having to be restrained by Royce O’Neale and assistant coach Jacque Vaughn will stick out from this defeat. Nash was escorted off the court as the sellout crowd of 17,341 at Fiserv Forum roared. His Nets promptly gave up six unanswered points and never led again.
“I was just standing up for guys,” Nash said. “Patty took a forearm in the throat, to be honest, right in front of the ref. I didn’t think that was fair, so I don’t think I was overly demonstrative. I was just upset that I got the technical.”
Tiven disagreed, saying via a pool report: “Steve twice yelled out a very unsportsmanlike comment that was directed at the officiating, that was the first technical. The second technical was for his continual outburst after receiving the first.”
Antetokounmpo took over during the second half, in which the Bucks outscored the Nets 67-44.
The two-time MVP had a game-high 43 points on 16-for-25 shooting. After the Nets held him to just nine points on 3-for-10 shooting in the first half, he broke them after the break. Antetokounmpo poured in 34 points on 13-for-15 shooting after intermission.
“Giannis put his head down, got to the rim, got to the free-throw line,” said Kevin Durant, whose 33 points and six rebounds went to waste.
The Nets also squandered Kyrie Irving’s 27 points and nine rebounds, falling to 1-3.
“I’m not going to over-complicate it,” Irving said. “It just starts with defensive pride and using our IQs to the best of our ability. We have a lot of long guys in terms of length out there on the perimeter. A lot of teams get in our paint, offensive rebound and that’s the game right there. It’s effort. And it’s just positioning.
“If you’re not in the right body position in basketball, you’re going get beat. Giannis kept beating us to the spot. He kept beating us to the free-throw line. And it showed. … Once he gets going downhill and he gets to the free-throw line and we’re sitting there almost every play looking at the refs, we are going to get beat. [This] was just a learning lesson along the journey.”
The Nets wasted some promising signs.
Ben Simmons actually tried to attack, and the Nets benefitted from that early.
They trailed 34-31 after a Bobby Portis layup with 7:40 left in the first half. But they closed the second quarter on a 24-9 run as their league-worst defense held Milwaukee to 4-for-12 shooting the rest of the half, forcing three turnovers.
The Nets led by 12 at the break, but couldn’t hold on.
They were up 70-66 after a Joe Harris 3-pointer with 5:05 left in the third. That’s when the game got testy and Nash got tossed, sparking an 11-2 Bucks run and forging a Milwaukee lead that just kept growing.
Asked if he’d ever seen Nash that animated, Durant said he had.
“Yeah. We watched him play for 20 years. I’ve seen him talk s–t to the refs. I’ve been on the court when he’d talked crazy to refs,” Durant said. “My first few years Steve used to talk so crazy to the refs, so when he didn’t get a tech as a coach, I’m like where that [stuff] at? Because he’s feisty. You’ve gotta handle yourself definitely as a coach, but sometimes you want to go out there and fight for your guys and that’s what he did.”