Kyrie Irving leads Nets to clutch grind-it-out win over Bucks

Kyrie Irving has played in less than half of the Nets' games this year, but Saturday night's showdown with the Bucks provided enough drama for an entire season.

Irving dropped a game-high 38 points including several key free throws late as Brooklyn eked out a 126-123 win over Milwaukee on the road. It was a season-high scoring performance and his fifth game with 30 or more points this year.

Milwaukee controlled things early, leading by seven after the first quarter and six at halftime. Brooklyn came back to balance the scales in the third, winning the period by nine and claiming a three-point advantage going into the fourth.

That's when things started to get really crazy. The teams went at each other right away, as 12 points were scored in the first 78 seconds of game action. They didn't keep that scoring pace up but stayed neck-and-neck, as they were tied with just over two minutes left in the game.

Bruce Brown hit a three with just over a minute and a half to go to give the Nets a two-point lead. Both teams came up empty over the next minute, until Andre Drummond hit one free throw but missed another with 21.7 left as Brooklyn led by three.

On the following possession, Grayson Allen drew a shooting foul from beyond the arc on Kyrie Irving. He clunked the second free throw though, only getting two to fall and failing to capitalize on the opportunity to tie.

The next time down, Irving was intentionally fouled and hit both free throws. Khris Middleton answered with two free throws of his own after the Nets fouled up three, and the Bucks intentionally fouled Irving again. He responded again, though, knocking both down to keep Brooklyn up by three.

The Nets fouled again, but Jrue Holiday missed one of his two shots. Irving hit just one of his two intentional free throws on the next possession, though, and Giannis Antetokounmpo knocked them both down on the next possession to make it a one-point game. 

LaMarcus Aldridge was fouled on the next possession and hit them both, putting Brooklyn back up three before what seemed to be the final shot for Milwaukee. The Bucks threw a full court pass on the money to Antetokounmpo, who got a solid look at a game-tying three but couldn't get it to go.

Irving finished with 38 points, five rebounds and five assists. Seth Curry added 19, Bruce Brown had 15 and seven rebounds, and Andre Drummond logged 17 points and 12 boards.

Antetokounmpo finished with 29 points and 14 rebounds. Bobby Portis led Milwaukee in scoring with 30 points and 12 rebounds, and Middleton logged 25 points.