Giannis leads Milwaukee Bucks past Nets

The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Brooklyn Nets in the Fiserv Forum for the second time in three days, and will hold the tiebreaker if both teams should finish with the same record at the regular season.

Perhaps not the instant classic that we witnessed on Sunday afternoon, but tonight’s game was played on a razors edge for most of the night. Very little separated the two sides the entire evening

Like he did on Sunday, Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks in scoring with 36 points, but it was Khris Middleton who took over late in the game, hitting big shot after big shot deep into the game.

The Milwaukee small forward had 23 points and made the Nets pay every time they left him open to provide defensive help on Giannis. Jru Holiday was two rebounds away from a triple double in a 23 point outing.

The Nets led by two points going into the second half, but a 18-1 run in the fourth unraveled the James Hardenless Brooklyn side, and Steve Nash’s team was never able to recover.

Milwaukee hit the boards hard tonight, dragging down 16 more rebounds than the visitors, and 15 of their 55 boards were on the offensive end.

Kyrie Irving led all scorers with 38 points, and Kevin Durant followed up with 32 but the tandem didn’t get much help from their role players.

This was the third and final game between the two teams, the Bucks win tonight means they take the season series two games to one.

The Bucks are now a game and a half back of Brooklyn, with seven games remaining in the regular season. Philadelphia looks to be the favorite to finish on top of the Eastern Conference, but lead the Nets by just a game and a half with seven games remaining.

The Bucks take the rubber match in the third game of the regular season. If it comes to a tie break for postioning between these two teams, Milwaukee will have the edge.

It's all over from Fiserv Forum!! The Bucks win their second game over the Nets in the last three days.

Giannis to the line, as the Nets are trying to force the Bucks to win this game from the line. Giannis hits both he's got 36 points.

Under a minute to go from the Fiserv Forum.

Tucker with a foul on Irving, who hits both from the line

KD misses two straight threes, and Giannis converts one of two from the line after a foul

1:20 to go

Harris with a triple from the corner and its a five point game

Giannis has gone cold from three. Durant glides to the rim for a finger roll

3 minutes to go from Milwaukee

Irving with a three, and still signs of life for Brooklyn. Timeout on the floor .

Middleton with a deep jumper. It will be called a two as his foot was on the line

Brown with a hustle play on the offensive rebound and put back

DiVencenzo finding a soft spot in the defense underneath the basket

MIlwaukee are in the midst of an 18-1 run

Timeout from the Fiserv Froum, under five to go. Nets trailing by nine

Irving with a rainbow of the window. His first points of the fourth quarter

Middleton right down Main Street off the inbound. It's been easy going on the offensive end for Milwaukee

Under six minutes to go from the Fiserv Forum

Giannis with a quick step, gets fouled and one! After the made FT the Bucks are on a 16-1 run.

Middleton again, he's got 17

Middleton with another deuce, and the Bucks are on a 11-1 run

Holiday muscles his way into the paint and banks home a close effort

8 minutes to go here from Milwaukee

Green fouled on the drive to the basket, hits one of two and we are tied up

Star watch to this point...

KD: 30 points Giannis: 30 points

DiVencenzo attacking the iron again and the Bucks take the lead. Brooklyn coach Nash needs a timeout

Three ball from Forbes, and we are back to a one point game

DiVencenzo on the offensive board and put back

Mike James having a big start to the last quarter. A couple assists and a deep three extends the Nets lead

Lopez on the Ally oop from Giannis

Griffin with a deep ball of the James assist

Middleton with a three point play after the and one conversion

Green in the corner for three!

Fourth Quarter is underway

We are through three quarters here in MIlwaukee, the Nets retake the lead heading into the fourth quarter.

There was a foul before the technical, which sends Griffin to the line to shoot two

A technical foul on Griffin whistled on his way up the floor.

Irving with 31 KD with 30 thought three quarters

Irving with the three! He's got 31!!!

Middelton with a leaner

Durant sticks the three, and the Nets are ahead

Durant hits both FTs after a foul from Tucker

Tucker for three! Bucks back up by 4

Durant with a three ball, we have a one point ball game

Irviing with a three point play, he's got 28, 14 in the 3rd quarter

GIannis using his length in the paint, driving on Griffin, hits the finger rolls and will go to the line after the timeout

KD fouls Giannis who hits both free throws

Iriving with 5 straight points

Irving for three! He's over 20 tonight

Hoiday on the step back, he is 4 of 5 from three tonight

Durant in transition, that spring in his step tells you he has recovered fully from his thigh injury

Harris burys a three on the other end, and he's got three triples tonight. Timeout Milwaukee

Holiday with an open three, and the Bucks lead by 10

Lopez fouled by Durant, and the Bucks big man hits both from the line

DeVincenzo off the inbound with a quick lay up

Irving his the second of two FTs, but the Nets have missed 8 of their last 12 FTs

Jordan goes one of two from the line

Giannis with the first five Bucks point of the second half

Giannis hits from deep again after getting his own long rebound off a missed three

Durant from three with a hand in his face, he's got 20

Irving from the short corners, he's got his first bucket of the second half. He's got 16

We are back in play from MIlwaukee, not much has been between these teams, The Bucks had the largerst lead of the first half

If Giannis keeps hitting threes the Nets could be in danger. He is three of five from downtown, Will the Nets try to close him out on the three point line in the second half?

Bucks commentator Jim Paschke will retire at the end of the year

Nets top scorers through the first half:

Durant: 17

Irving: 14

James; 7

Top Scores for the Bucks through the first half:

Giannis: 21

Holiday: 15

Forbes: 11

The Bucks end the first half on an 11-3 run to go to to the break eight points

Irving continues to chip away, he's got 14

Giannis with the fader, he's got 21 in the first half

1:10 to go and Middleton stretches the lead to nine, the largest of the game for the home side.

Nets TO out of the timeout leads to a steal and a score for the Bucks

Both teams have gone cold in the last few minutes and Steve Nash needs a timeout

Three minutes left in the half, and still nothing seperates these two teams

Irving picks up the foul, and joins Giannis with three personals

Forbes hits another three, he's got 11 off the bench

Shamet for three, for his first points of the game

Holiday hits one of two from the line, and the Bucks stay in front

The Nets have missed five straight free throws

Forbes with a three ball puts the Bucks back on top

DeAndre Jordan with a poster jam attempt, is fouled and hits one of two

Iriving with a three to give the lead back, but Middleton punches back with a three

Middleton ties the game back up at 48

Forbes cuts the lead to two

KD with the jumper from the free throw line

Charge called on Giannis, and we have a developing story in Milwaukee. The Greek has just picked up his third foul

KD showing the midrange

Portis on the flush down low, off the feed from Giannis

KD hits the two free throws to take the lead back

The Greek Freak has 19 points already tonight. He did just pick up his second foul though

Giannis with a three and then a strong drive into the body of Griffin gets an and one and were tied up

James from the corner from three point range

Giannis agains from 15 feet

Two man game between KD and Griffin which leave Blake open for the easy dunk

James on the drive down the middle for the Nets off the bench

We get our first look at James Harden who is injured tonight with a strained hamstring

That's the end of the first quarter here from Milwaukee. Nothing between these two teams through the opening quarter

Durant with the up and under from the baseline, gets bumped and goes to the line, making the free throw

Holiday has the last 9 points for the Bucks!

Blake Griffin off the bench and on the board to cut the lead to two

Holiday bites right back with a three

Harris again! That's two in a row for Joe Harris

Harris off the inbound, Joey Buckets with the knock down from the corner

Holiday to the line, hits two of two

Irving with a long two out of the break

May the Fourth is being celebrated here at the Fiserv Forum. Plenty of Star Wars activities going on during the timeouts

Forbes going to the bank from downtown! The Bucks lead by 5

Durant on the turnaround midrandge jumper

Giannis goes inside this time, and may have got away with a travel.

Giannis responds with a three, he's hot from deep

Green with six straight points

Green with a three point play to respond

Holiday with a trey

Irving ends a streak of six missed shots

Green goes 1 for 2 from the line and the 10--0 run is over

Lopez with a floater off the timeout and a 10-0 run has the Bucks up by 5

Giannis looks like he's keen on a repeat performance, he's off to a hot start

Timeout in Milwaukee who have used an 8-0 run to bulid a three point lead

DiVencenzo off the steal with a reverse lay up and Milwaukee is up by three

FT good and Milwaukee is up by a point

Giannis Answers with a three pointer, and right after an and 1, he's got a chance for 6 straight points

Durant with a three! He's got 5 quick points

trading bucket Kyrie puts the Bucks back up by two

Irving with his first bucket of the game

Bucks with the first possession and a follow up bucket is good for the first score of the game

We are underway from Milwaukee

How To Watch

When: Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET

Where: Fiserv Forum -- Milwaukee, Wisconsin

TV: TNT

We are just minutes away from tip for this heavyweight battle from Milwaukee

According to cbssportsline.com the Bucks are 1.5 point favorites over the Nets, with the over/under set at 242.5

Is this a preview of the Eastern Conference Championship? Sunday's game ceratinly had that feel to it.

This will be the thrid and final time these two teams meet in the regular season. The Nets won the opening game earlier in the season, but the Bucks evened the season series on Sunday

Hello everyone, and welcome to AS English’s live coverage of the Brooklyn Nets at Milwaukee Bucks game from the Fiserv Forum.

Deadlocked in a three team battle for first place in the Eastern Conference two of the top teams in the standings go toe to toe for the second time in three days.

The Bucks won a thriller on Sunday afternoon, and have a chance to tighten the gap between them and the second place Nets tonight.

The Philadelphia 76ers top the Eastern Conference standing with a record of 44-21. Brooklyn trails them by just a game, while the Bucks sit 3.5 games back of Phillly.

There are no secrets on who we will be keeping an eye on tonight. The spotlight will be shined on the Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant match up all night, and with good reason.

In the heavyweight showdown between these two teams days ago KD scored 42 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, but was topped by the Greek Freak who had 49 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

KD had a chance to tie the game with a last grasp three from the top of the key, but hit the iron and the Bucks closed out the narrow win on their home floor.

Both KD and Giannis are former MVP winners, and both are in contention to add to collection this season. Antetokounmpo is averaging 28.4 ppg, and Durant sits just under the Greek at  28.1 ppg,