Bucks overcome Durant's heroics to advance to conference finals

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Down goes the Superteam.

After the Brooklyn Nets assembled a roster that included Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden, an agreement was made between NBA stars that anything less than a championship would be considered a failure.

Down to one fully healthy star with Irving out and Harden at less than full strength, KD and the Nets were unable to overcome the Milwaukee Bucks, who won 115-111 in overtime during Game 7 to advance to the Eastern Conference finals.

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 40 points to lead the Bucks to victory, despite 48 points from Durant, the most ever in a Game 7.

Durant hit a turnaround jumper with his foot on the line to tie in at 109 with 1.0 second left in regulation. Antetokounmpo then missed a baseline fadeaway at the buzzer, sending the game into overtime -- the first Game 7 overtime since 2006 when the Dallas Mavericks faced the San Antonio Spurs in the second round.

A putback by Bruce Brown gave the Nets a 111-109 lead early in overtime. The score would remain that way until Antetokounmpo's bucket with 1:12 remaining to tie it at 111.

After Brook Lopez blocked a Durant layup attempt and Joe Harris missed an open three, Khris Middleton drained a fadeaway jumper in the paint to put the Bucks up 113-111 with 40.1 seconds left.

The Nets had one final chance after Middleton missed a pullup that would have sealed it, but Durant's contested turnaround from straightaway drew nothing but air, leaving just 0.3 seconds remaining on the clock.

Lopez then drained two free throws to seal the victory.

The Bucks advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since the 2018-19 season when they took a 2-0 series lead before falling to the eventual champion Toronto Raptors in six games. Milwaukee seeks its first trip to the NBA Finals since the 1973-74 season.

The Bucks await the winner of Sunday's Game 7 matchup between the Philadelphia 76ers and Atlanta Hawks.

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