Durant, Irving carry Nets past Bucks in series opener after Harden exits with injury

Kevin Durant knew something was wrong when the Brooklyn Nets were trying to run a play and James Harden wasn't in the right spot.

Moments later, Harden wasn't even in the game, forced to leave with a right hamstring injury less than a minute into the Eastern Conference semifinals.

"That was tough," Nets coach Steve Nash said.

Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving made sure it wasn't a knockout blow.

Harden's injury is the same one that forced him to miss two losses to the Bucks in May.

But the Nets beat Milwaukee when it mattered most without him, getting 19 points from Joe Harris and 18 points and 14 rebounds from Blake Griffin.

"We try not to be too emotional out there, but losing one of your leaders like that on the first play of the game, we had to regroup for a couple of minutes and figure out what was next, but I think the coaches, the coaching staff did a great job of moving forward," Durant said. "Guys came in and just tried to play extremely hard. We didn't care about anything else but playing and executing the game plan and just leaving it all out there."

And they got a solid defensive effort despite giving up plenty of size, limiting the Bucks to 13 points below their NBA-leading average.

Durant grabbed 10 rebounds and Irving had eight assists, throwing some spectacular passes as the Nets moved the ball around quickly and had the Bucks a step or more behind all night.

"We've got to guard defensively together, especially against this team," Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo said.

Game 2 is Monday night.

"Our guys got to execute defensively regardless of who's on the court, execute offensively regardless of who's on the court," Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. "We've got to be better. We'll be better Monday."

Antetokounmpo had 34 points and 11 rebounds, but the Bucks were just 6 for 30 from 3-point range and lost for the first time in the playoffs after storming past Miami in a first-round sweep.

Brook Lopez scored 19 points for the Bucks and Jrue Holiday had 17 points and nine rebounds. Khris Middleton finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds but was 6 for 23, missing all five 3-pointers.

'He's such a big part of the game plan'

A series that had talent all over the rosters started on a down note when Harden had to come out of the game after just 43 seconds, walking to the back after the Nets called timeout before they had even scored.

"When you prepare for a game and he's such a big part of the game plan that can throw you off. But I was proud of the guys that they didn't get rattled, they hung in there and got the win," Nash said, adding that he had no update on Harden's status.

Harden predicted a day earlier this series would be a showdown.

His show might already be over.

The Bucks led 32-30 after one but the Nets sprinted past them with an 8-0 run for a 47-42 lead. Another run of eight in a row pushed it to 59-48 on Irving's layup with 3:22 left in the half, but Milwaukee closed well to get within 63-61 at the break.

The NBA's two highest-scoring teams played at a dizzying pace, where look down after a basket and they might already be shooting at the other end by the time you looked up.

The pace favored the Nets, who pulled away for good in the third quarter.

Durant picked up his fourth foul with 1:36 left in the period, quickly waving his hands toward Nash that he didn't want to come out of the game. Lopez made the two free throws to cut it to nine, but Durant then scored seven straight points, with his 3-pointer pushing it to 98-82 with 5.1 seconds remaining.

WATCH | Bilodeau inspired Canadians in Vancouver 2010 & continues to do so:

Alexandre Bilodeau inspired Canadians in Vancouver 2010 and continues to do so

4 years ago

Duration 12:02

Moguls skier Alexandre Bilodeau became the first Canadian to win an Olympic gold medal on home soil in Vancouver 2010. Now a chartered accountant, Bilodeau is working with the Special Olympics and other athletes with disabilities to ensure they have access to sports.