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Nets outlast Bucks in triple OT

Mar 21, 2015 - 4:57 AM Brooklyn, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Brook Lopez's 32 points and 18 rebounds helped the Brooklyn Nets outlast the Milwaukee Bucks 129-127 in another triple-overtime thriller between the teams.

The rematch of a Nov. 19 clash at Barclays Center, which also lasted three overtimes in ex-Nets head coach Jason Kidd's return to Brooklyn as the head coach of the Bucks, mirrored the first meeting except for the result. The Bucks won that previous showdown, but ultimately ran out of steam and were saddled with their 10th consecutive loss on the road.

Thaddeus Young added 24 points for Brooklyn and Joe Johnson had 20 while twice extending the contest with late 3-pointers.

"Everyone contributed tonight. Our bench had great energy. It was a big bounce back," Lopez said.

The Bucks received nearly all their production from their starting five while pulling down an astounding 38 offensive rebounds, 18 of which were recorded by center Zaza Pachulia.

Khris Middleton paced Milwaukee with 29 points, Giannis Antetokounmpo had 23 with 14 rebounds and Pachulia finished with 21 total boards along with 22 points and seven assists.

Milwaukee also received 20 points and 13 rebounds from Ersan Ilyasova and a 19-point effort from Michael Carter-Williams in its fifth straight defeat overall.

The Nets showed plenty of resiliency, overcoming a 14-point third-quarter deficit and bringing about a third extra session when Johnson knocked through a 24-footer while falling down near the Milwaukee bench with 18.1 seconds on the clock to knot the score at 117-117.

"We had an opportunity to get a stop and Joe made a big 3," Bucks coach Jason Kidd said.

Milwaukee, which got just 14 points from its bench, finally relented in the third OT. Lopez scored the first five points of the session and the Bucks missed 10 of 14 shots over the final five minutes.

Middleton was able to stick a 3-pointer with 19.7 seconds left to pull Milwaukee within 126-125, but misfired twice from long distance after Brooklyn's Jarrett Jack hit two critical free throws on the previous possession.

The Nets began their rally with a 12-4 run that trimmed Milwaukee's once-cushy lead to 83-77 with three minutes to go in the third quarter, then drew even early in the fourth when two Cory Jefferson free throws followed an Alan Anderson triple and forged an 84-84 deadlock.

Milwaukee answered with six straight points, but a 10-0 Brooklyn flurry later on had the home team up 98-94 with four minutes left in regulation.

The Bucks countered with a 7-0 push, highlighted by an Ilyasova second-chance triple and ending in Pachulia's tip-in with 2:22 remaining that gave Milwaukee a 101-98 edge. Johnson drained a 3-ball just over a minute later, however, and Antetokounmpo couldn't get a turnaround jumper to fall just before the buzzer to send it into extra time.

The lead changed hands four times in the final 1:09 of the second OT. Middleton buried a jumper just inside the arc to send the Bucks up 109-108 with 38.6 seconds left, but Bojan Bogdanovic sank a corner 3 on the Nets' next trip before Antetokounmpo put home a contested runner with 15.8 seconds showing to even the contest at 111-111.

Milwaukee began to create some distance late in the second quarter, with a pair of Middleton treys keying an 8-3 stretch that staked the Bucks to a 55-48 lead. They later increased the margin to 12 before settling for a 68-58 advantage at the break behind a 38-point second frame.

Game Notes

The game marked the first time that two teams went to triple-overtime against one another in the same season ... Milwaukee's 38 offensive rebounds were the most by a Nets opponent, as were Pachulia's 18 on the offensive glass. The Bucks finished with an 81-53 margin on the boards ... The Nets have played six overtime games this season, all coming at home to tie a club record set in 2010-11 ... Milwaukee fell to 3-3 in overtime games on the season ... Kidd went 3-0 against the Bucks as the Nets' head coach last season.