Tune-In Tidbits: ABC Sunday, May 2, 2021

Kevin Durant scored 30 points in Brooklyn’s win over Milwaukee on Jan. 18.

Nets (43-21) at Bucks (39-24)

3:30 p.m. ET, ABC

• This is the start of a two-game series (Sunday and Tuesday) between the Nets and Bucks that will determine the head-to-head tiebreaker between the teams. The Nets won the first meeting, so a win on Sunday would clinch the tiebreaker and also increase their lead to 4.5 games in the standings. However, the Nets do not hold the tiebreaker with Philadelphia (just 0.5 games back) as the Sixers won the season series 2-1. In the overall series, the Nets have won three of the past four games with the Bucks with the three wins all decided by five points or less.

• The Nets won the first meeting with the Bucks, 125-123 on Jan. 18, behind a combined 64 points from Kevin Durant (30) and James Harden (34). While Harden will not play Sunday (hamstring), Kyrie Irving will be in action after he missed the first game with Milwaukee. Giannis Antetokounmpo matched Harden’s game-high with 34 points for the Bucks, who are 10-12 this season when Giannis scores 30 or more, compared to 21-10 when he’s held below 30 points.

• In the first meeting, DeAndre Jordan was the primary defender on Giannis Antetokounmpo for a team-high 8:16 (66.3% of Giannis’ offensive matchup time); Giannis scored 18 of his 34 points against Jordan, but shot just 7-for-18 (38.9%) from the field and 2-for-6 (33.3%) from 3-point range. Khris Middleton was the primary defender on Kevin Durant for a team-high 6:53 (58.8% of Durant’s offensive matchup time); Durant scored 13 of his 30 points against Middleton on 5-for-9 shooting from the field and 3-for-4 form the free throw line, while also dishing out three assists.

• The Bucks (39.2%) and Nets (38.8%) rank second and fourth, respectively, in 3-point shooting this season. In their first meeting, the Bucks shot just 11-for-39 (28.9%) from beyond the arc, while the Nets shot 15-for-31 (48.4%). It was one of just eight games when the Bucks were held below 30% shooting from 3-point range; they are 3-5 in those games. The Nets have shot better than 48% from 3-point range nine times this season and have gone 8-1 in those games. Milwaukee allows the eighth-highest 3-point percentage in the league (37.5%) as opposing teams shoot 1.3 percentage points higher than their normal average when they face the Bucks.

• Of the 354 players that have logged at least 1,000 possessions on court this season, Kevin Durant leads the league in offensive efficiency as the Nets score 122.2 points per 100 possessions while he’s on the court. Kyrie Irving ranks fifth (119.6), while Jrue Holiday leads the Bucks in 24th place (117.4).