Kevin Durant performing at an elite level so soon after returning from such a significant injury hasn’t received the attention it deserves this season.

After Tuesday’s night’s historic performance, it won’t be overlooked any longer.

Durant registered 49 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the Brooklyn Nets to a 114-108 win over the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 5.

He became the first player in NBA history with at least 45 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists in a single game.

Brooklyn, which trailed by 16 through two quarters, outscored Milwaukee by 22 in the second half to complete the comeback win and take a 3-2 series lead.

Here is the Morning Coffee for Wednesday June 16, 2021.

 

Durant shines in Game 5 win

The Nets were +320 money line live at the half.

Trailing by 16, Brooklyn was getting 12 points entering the third quarter.

With the Nets on the verge of being pushed to the brink of elimination, Durant completely took over in the second half.

Per ESPN Stats & Info, Durant became the second player ever with at least 30 points, five rebounds and five assists in a playoff half over the last 25 seasons, joining Jamal Murray.

In the fourth quarter alone, he scored or assisted on 24 of Brooklyn’s 33 points.

All nine of his shooting attempts in the fourth were defended, but he sank six of them. 

Durant didn’t take a break either, playing the full 48 minutes to ensure the Nets emerged with a 3-2 series lead.

Now these teams head back to Milwaukee with Brooklyn once again the favourite to win the series, the conference and the NBA championship.

Still, the Bucks opened as a 3.5-point favourite for Game 6 on their home floor.

Personally, I’m not interested in betting against Durant.

 

Lightning bounce back again

The Tampa Bay Lightning have refused to lose two games in a row in the playoffs dating back to last year’s Stanley Cup run.

That trend continued with a 4-2 win over the New York Islanders in Game 2 of their Stanley Cup semifinal series on Tuesday night.

Tampa Bay (-200) has now won 12 consecutive postseason games following a loss – the longest such stream in NHL playoff history.

Nikita Kucherov added to his league-leading postseason point total with three assists. He’s up to 22 points in 13 games after missing the entire regular season.

Brayden Point scored to give him a league-leading 10 goals in these playoffs. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves.

With the series tied 1-1, the Lightning are now -200 to win the series. The comeback on the Islanders is +170.

 

France take three points versus Germany

The reigning World Cup champion and Euro 2020 favourite France (+175) beat Germany 1-0 in its group stage opener on Tuesday.

For all of the firepower on both sides, it was an own goal by Matt Hummels that was the difference in the game.

Hummels earned the unwanted distinction of becoming the first German player in Euro history to score an own goal.

It was the third own goal in the tournament already. The over/under for own goals at Euro 2020 was set at 4.5.

France, which opened the tournament at +450 to win the title, is already down to +333 to win it all.

It was Germany’s first loss ever in a Euro opener.

Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to lead Portugal (-210) to a win over Hungary in the other Group F match.

Ronaldo is now the all-time leader in goals scored at the Euro with 11.

It will get much tougher for Portugal moving forward, with a Matchday 2 showdown with Germany before playing France in its group stage finale.

Meanwhile, there are a couple of potential clinching scenarios for today’s Euro action.

Finland (+550) can become the first team to qualify for the knockout stage with a win over Russia.

Italy (-160) can also clinch a spot in the Round of 16 with a win over Switzerland combined with a Turkey win or draw.

 

U.S. Open prep

The best golfers in the world have arrived at Torrey Pines for the 2021 U.S. Open this week.

TSN will have wall-to-wall coverage of the third major of the year, including our very own Adam Scully providing updates for TSN Edge throughout the week.  

Coming off an impressive couple of weeks, Scully, Mark Zecchino and Bob Weeks offered up their picks to win the U.S. Open.