Welcome to the Morning Shootaround, where every weekday you’ll get a fresh, topical column from one of SI.com’s NBA writers: Howard Beck on Mondays, Chris Mannix on Tuesdays, Michael Pina on Wednesdays, Chris Herring on Thursdays and Rohan Nadkarni on Fridays.
The Bucks only narrowly avoided disaster Thursday night, clawing out an 86–83 victory against the Nets in a must-win Game 3, putting their deficit in the second-round series at 2–1 as opposed to a dreaded 3–0. Milwaukee is certainly alive thanks to the win, and Brooklyn remains in a slightly precarious position with the hamstring injury to James Harden.