The Brooklyn Nets earn a celebratory victory over the Milwaukee Bucks 111-105 in the fourth quarter

The strength of schedules in the NBA is a myth.

You never know when the Milwaukee Bucks will be without both Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, even if there are two days off between games, like Thursday night when the Brooklyn Nets came to town.

Suddenly, the 11-18 Nets had another great opportunity to win a game and take the lead in their season series with the 2024 In-Season Tournament Champions. Of course, the direction of Brooklyn’s rebuild — and the front office’s audacity in maintaining that direction — complicates this opportunity, but hey, it’s the holiday season, so we’ll spread some cheer not Focus on the consequences of winning games in December with veterans who aren’t in Brooklyn’s long-term plans, some of whom won’t even survive the season. We’re all going to die one day anyway!

Plus, it was Noah Clowney’s efforts that kept the Nets in the game early on Thursday. Old friend Brook Lopez led an incredible 3-point effort that gave Milwaukee a 13-point lead in the second quarter, but Clowney kept it to a manageable eight points at halftime.

Of course, he got help from the usual suspects like Cam Johnson, who led all scorers with 29 points, including a poster dunk…

…but Clowney was the main source of relief as Brooklyn inched closer to a possible win. Unsurprisingly, the 20-year-old has improved his game just as he was getting more consistent minutes early in the middle third of the season, showing early signs that he’s developing into a real, valuable NBA player.

Much of his damage comes from the 3-point line, and on Thursday he added a career-high six triples on nine attempts, putting him at 38.7% on high volume for the season. But he also defended Khris Middleton admirably, finishing off a layup and dropping that dime to an energetic Nic Claxton early in the third quarter…

“His future is so bright. He doesn’t even know, I don’t think,” Johnson said of his young teammate.

Baby steps!

As for Claxton, he shot just 3 of 6 from the stripe and 5 of 12 from the floor, including two misses from deep, but passed the smell test with flying colors after a long stretch speak about his disappointing start to the season. Milwaukee shot just 56% at the rim on Thursday, according to Cleaning the Glass, while Claxton made sure to take advantage of a star-less opponent by imposing his will on the defense. And yes, he channeled his energy into positivity…

It looked like all of those positives were leading to a hard-fought loss, which for most people is the ideal outcome for Nets games this season. In the third and early fourth quarters, Brooklyn cut the lead to one or two possessions and then surrendered a game-winning three-pointer to a Milwaukee team that shot 39.5% from distance on the night. Even against a team that lacked their best offensive players, Brooklyn showed why they were among the league’s worst defenses…

Head coach Jordi Fernández said: “They are a good three-point shooting team and we got hurt at times. They still made 15 of them, almost 40%, so as I said, as a team that likes to shoot threes, we had to rebound. A lot of those were second chance points and we didn’t finish possession.”

Then the magic began. The spirit of Christmas Past owned Shake Milton as the veteran guard scored 14 of his 20 points on the bounce and hit four straight triples, making it a one-possession game.

Keon Johnson, who continued to look like one of the NBA’s worst offensive guards in the first half of the game, made a series of game-winning plays: a steal and a dunk, a three-pointer and a beautiful spin move for a layup. What had gotten caught in these nets?

However, it wasn’t all smoke and mirrors and it wasn’t just a 7 out of 11 from deep in the fourth round.

“It’s easier to get out and run when you’re stopped. The game has a different pace, right? The shots are – it’s different when the defense is constantly set. So I think our defense allowed us to move better and get better shots,” Fernández said.

While it’s easier to guard the Bucks without Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brooklyn made no tactical adjustments in the fourth period (except for Clowney switching to Middleton more often). Instead, they simply increased their intensity, putting pressure on the ball and threatening the passing lanes more. Cam Johnson even caused a flagrant foul on Middleton by simply pushing his way into his space and elbowing him in the face.

Ultimately, it was a great win full of holiday cheer, at least in a vacuum. If Brooklyn’s apparent inability to tank properly could be summed up in one play, it was the game’s divine winner, a prayer that found just the right spot on the backboard…

At least it was Noah Clowney who invented it. And at least the Nets are fighting — that is, the players wearing the uniforms who are bumping and hurting themselves on the court for first-year sensation Jordi Fernández, not the organization that will be fretting over ping pong balls five months from now.

“We just keep believing and keep fighting,” Johnson said. “That’s the only thing that can’t work. If we believe we can win the game – and we did that the whole game – we’ve given ourselves a chance… and that kind of gives guys the opportunity to go out and make plays like Shake did “Like Keon did, just big buckets, Noah hitting threes.”

The Brooklyn Nets have now had two wins since the Dennis Schröder transfer. The Golden State Warriors have one.

Final score: Brooklyn Nets 111, Milwaukee Bucks 105

Milestone clock

• Noah Clowney not only posted a career-best six triples on Thursday, but also reached 20 points for the second time in his career and the first time this season.
• Shake Milton’s 20 points off the bench were his second 20-point effort for the Nets and the third-most by a reserve player this season.

Injury report

Oddly enough, Dorian Finney-Smith said he expected to play on Thursday night, but ultimately sat out because of the left calf bruise (and likely Brooklyn’s rebuild) that had also kept him out in the previous two games.

“Nothing happened,” Fernández said after the game. “It was unpleasant and of course we won’t force it. We want it to reach 200%. He was disappointed, he wants to play… We will make an assessment tomorrow and see where he is.”

While there were no updates on Cam Thomas, Ziaire Williams and Trendon Watford, there were no updates on Ben Simmons either. That’s good news! For the first time this season, Fernández has not committed to sitting Simmons out for the second night of Brooklyn’s clash on Friday, although that is certainly a strong possibility.

Next

Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images

The alien lands, for the second night in a row, no less. Brooklyn comes home Friday night to face Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.