He rebounded a missed 3, pushed the ball the other way, then hit his defender with a Eurostep just inside the free throw line.
Milwaukee’s next bucket in Game 6 of its second-round series was also scored on the break, in the paint, off the glass, set up by an Antetokounmpo Eurostep, only this time he zipped the ball to PJ Tucker in the corner and Tucker found Brook Lopez darting to the paint.
Less than five minutes into the game, Antetokounmpo finished over Griffin after yet another Eurostep, as James Harden swiped down at the ball and fouled him.
Middleton closed the quarter on a personal 6-0 run, extending the Bucks’ lead to 11 with a pull-up 2 and a buzzer-beating layup, both on the break.
“I thought we had some problems getting back in transition,” Nets coach Steve Nash said after Milwaukee’s 104-89 win.
The Bucks didn’t fix all of their offensive issues but tied the series anyway because they got stops, ran and owned the glass.
In the second quarter, Jrue Holiday settled for a stepback 3 in the right corner, and, if Brooklyn had grabbed the rebound, it could have made it a one-possession game on the other end.
The defense collapsed on Antetokounmpo, and there was Middleton, uncovered for a 3, and a lead that could have shrunk to two points swelled to eight.
Milwaukee led the league in transition frequency and was fourth in fast break points this season.
The Bucks had some ugly, muddled and befuddling half-court possessions in Game 6, and they’ve had those all series.
Perhaps this is what’s expected when your season is on the line, against an opponent with one hobbled star out of the lineup and another hobbled star playing like the old guy at the Y.
Nash said they simply didn’t have their bounce, musing that maybe a lack of energy prevented them from finding their rhythm and maybe their inability to find a rhythm prevented them from generating energy.