NEW YORK – The Brooklyn Nets once had the longest winning streak in the NBA this season when Kevin Durant was at his best, sniping from the midrange. They won 12 straight and 18 of 20.
Durant wasn't called the “Easy Money Sniper” for nothing.
But that ship has already sailed for the Nets, who are trying to forge a new identity after Durant and Kyrie Irving left Brooklyn in haste.
If you ask Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn, he prefers to minimize, if not totally erase, the midrange shot — once the most glorious shot in the NBA that's now fast becoming extinct in the age of analytics — in the shot profile of his revamped team.
But it's easier said than done, especially if Mikal Bridges, the prized player from the Durant trade package, has fallen in love with that shot.
After all, Bridges learned from the other remaining midrange maestros in the NBA — Chris Paul and Devin Booker — in Phoenix. The Suns have been one of the most prolific midrange shooting teams in the NBA, ranking in the top five in each season since Paul joined the Suns three years ago.
On Tuesday (Wednesday, Manila time), Bridges scored 31 points, with 10 coming from the midrange. But it wasn't enough to sustain the Nets' hot start as they fell to the streaking Milwaukee Bucks, 118-104, for their third straight loss.
The red-hot Bucks are currently the hottest team in the NBA with 15 straight wins, the longest winning streak since the Durant-led Nets earlier in the season.
Brooklyn squandered an early 15-point lead. Not even Bridges' 10 straight points in the third quarter on an array of midrange shots could save the free-falling Nets.
"I don't want to live with it," Vaughn said after the loss, "because you played a team like tonight. That's the shot they want to give up. That's their profile defensively. And so, if you make it at a high level, we get rewarded for it."
"But you see, getting to the rim puts an extreme amount of pressure on your defense. So, if we can mix in and get into the rim like [the Bucks] did in the second half, we can take some of that midrange [shots]."
Bridges shot 5 of 9 from midrange, while the rest of the team could only hit 6 of 16.
"I felt coach gives you a little confidence if you're making them. He trusts you. But I still try to mix it up, get to the rim, and shoot threes. But [midrange] is the shot that I like, and I feel like, it's kind of a layup to me, especially if I get my feet in the paint. But that's just him letting me play and be aggressive."
The Nets shot 13 of 22 around the rim. Their hot 3-point shooting cooled off in the second half as the Bucks tightened their defense. After sinking 8 of 17 three-pointers in the opening half, the Nets went 4 for 19 in the second half, including a horrendous 1 of 7 in the decisive third quarter, where the Bucks outscored them, 39-23, to turn things around.
The Bucks overtook the Nets when Bridges went out with 3:59 left with a 14-2 run to close the third quarter for a 91-85 lead which they never relinquished.
"Our approach at the beginning of the game was really good," Vaughn said. We gave ourselves a chance at halftime. I think overall, it's a message for us to be able to sustain this thing and be able to do it in the third and fourth quarter against an elite team."
"So, the difference was they got to the rim. And we shot some midrange at that time. And so that conversion rate is definitely in their favor."
Giannis Antetokounmpo returned from a one-game absence and punished the Nets with 22 of his 33 points around the rim.
"Giannis was doing Giannis things — driving, creating, getting to the paint, kicking out, dunking it, doing everything," Bridges said. "So, we just had to be better on the transition."
With Antetokounmpo leading the way, the Bucks dominated inside the paint, 62-44. And their rim attacks opened the floodgates for their shooters, who hit eight three-pointers in the second half.
It's the kind of shot diet that Vaughn wants for the Nets.
But with a mixed bag of outside shooters and midrange gunners, he could only dream.
The Nets' third straight loss showed the disparity between what's left with the team after their superstars' exodus and the league's elite teams.
They are a fun team when they are hitting their outside shots and running the floor off turnovers. But when you take those away and force them to live in the midrange, there's no more Durant or a crafty Irving to lean on.
Bridges, a midrange demigod, is trying to fill in the big shoes, but he can't do it alone.
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Alder Almo is a former senior sportswriter for Philstar.com and NBA.com Philippines. He is now based in Jersey City, New Jersey, and writes for the New York-based sports website empiresportsmedia.com.