ATLANTA – The Milwaukee Bucks have put together another win streak, as they won their third in a row by beating the Atlanta Hawks, 127-121, Tuesday night at State Farm Arena. The Bucks are a season-best 10 games over .500 at 35-25.
Milwaukee has won seven of its last eight.
“We know that we have 20-something games left; whenever we step on the floor we’re trying to be sharp, try to execute things we worked on and it’s translating into wins, which I’m happy about, but that’s pretty much it,” Giannis Antetokounmpo said of the recent run of strong play. “I feel like we’re more sharp.”
The Hawks were coming off a buzzer-beating victory over the Grizzlies in Memphis on Monday night and it looked as if their legs flattened out a bit late in a close game, and they dropped to 28-34 overall. Point guard Trae Young had a chance to tie the game with a floater with 42 seconds left, but his attempt over Brook Lopez hit the front of the rim.
Damian Lillard then hit a nifty layup to give the Bucks a 125-121 lead with 26.6 seconds remaining.
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“Giannis was at the top of the key with Dyson Daniels and I had the matchup with the big and I just attacked him and I was able to score,” said Lillard, noting how the play was set up from a previous set where Antetokounmpo hit Brook Lopez for a dunk to give the Bucks a 123-121 lead. “From there, it was just a matter of getting some stops and just continue to execute. But down the stretch of games I think we’ve got to be able to take advantage of both of us being on the floor and just have good possessions and I thought we had that.”
BOX SCORE:Bucks 127, Hawks 121
Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with his sixth triple-double of the season, scoring 26 points, pulling down 11 rebounds and handing out 10 assists. He was 10 of 18 from the field and 8 of 12 from the free throw line.
Lillard scored 23 points while Kyle Kuzma (17 points, 10 rebounds) and Lopez (13 points, 13 rebounds) had double-doubles. Kevin Porter Jr. and Gary Trent Jr. scored 15 points each off the bench for Milwaukee.
Porter scored 12 of his points on 5-of-5 shooting in the fourth quarter, as he helped the Bucks stay connected with the Hawks. The point guard said his initial mindset with the second group is to try and move the ball, but it became clear in the fourth quarter the Bucks needed offense to keep pace with the Hawks.
“Ultimately I want to get in and get them the ball,” he said of his teammates. “Ultimately I know when it comes down to it I can score and I can be more aggressive, and that’s kind of what you seen tonight. Second half I felt like I needed to be more aggressive downhill, so I turned it up a little bit.”
Young led the Hawks with 28 points on 9-of-24 shooting. He also had 13 assists. Caris LeVert added 21 off the bench while Dyson Daniels had 16 points and two steals.
The Bucks had a tough shooting night after having two days in Atlanta, as they made just 29.7.% of their three-pointers. But, they were 18 of 23 from the free throw line.
Bucks manage to keep pace with Hawks
Atlanta is hanging on in the play-in picture largely due to an offense that is No. 7 in scoring (116.9 points per game), which it runs at a pace of 103.98 possessions per 48 minutes – the second-most in the NBA.
Milwaukee isn’t “slow,” as it entered the game at No. 2 in pace at 100.39 possessions per 48 minutes, or just behind Indiana (100.684), but the Bucks just go about offense differently. The Hawks came in putting up 91.8 shots per game (No. 6) while the Bucks only shoot it 87.0 times per game (23rd).
Head coach Doc Rivers said the emphasis for the Bucks is always on maintaining their pace, and trying to get teams to adjust to that, as opposed to trying to slow down an opponent. Rivers added that against high-pace teams, it behooves the Bucks to push it more often. As for how they’ve gone about doing that of late, Bucks forward Taurean Prince said it’s become a more natural part of their game as the team has built more chemistry.
“We take what the defense gives us – we’re not making stuff up,” he said at shootaround. “If somebody’s open for a kick ahead, kick it ahead.
“We’re just getting into what we want to get to, quicker. Not necessarily walking the ball up every single possession, not necessarily transition. Just normal, natural pace.”
The Bucks got up 95 shots, and for the most part it did look natural for them – particularly with all the open threes they had. Unfortunately, they missed most of them on Tuesday, going 11 for 37. The Hawks put up 101 shots and made five more three-pointers.
“I thought we kept our pace but we didn’t stop them from keeping theirs much, at least in the first half,” Rivers said. “I thought in the second half we were better. But again, I don’t worry about them. We gotta take care of what we did. We scored 127 points, we were 11 for 37 from three. This team, that never happens. We had great shots and didn’t make ’em. Probably missed seven layups at the basket. So, I liked a lot of our pace. That’s how we got easy shots.”
Part of that was an improbable night from Atlanta big man Mouhamed Gueye, who came into the game having made 6 three-pointers on 34 attempts (17%) in his previous 13 games. On Tuesday, he was 4 of 6.
But unfortunately for the Milwaukee, which had come into the game allowing 108.8 points per game out of the break, the pace was maybe a bit too fast as Atlanta surpassed that number about halfway through the fourth quarter.
Offensively, though, the Bucks were able to keep it up to the end as it appeared playing on the second night of a road-home back-to-back got to the Hawks as they couldn’t get enough shots to go down.
“We didn’t do a good job just stopping them tonight, but we just want them to play against our set defense,” Antetokounmpo said. “As much as possible. When we come back (on defense) we feel we’re such a big team, we can move our feet, we are doing a good just showing our length and making them take tough shots. So, we want teams to play against our set defense as much as possible because we know it’s tough for them.”
Damian Lillard hit with elbow, plays with swollen eye
With about 66 seconds to go in the first quarter, Lillard was caught by the point of Clint Capela’s elbow in the left eye as the two went for a rebound. Lillard immediately went to the ground, and eventually called for a substitute.
“Once it hit, I knew it was either gonna swell up or turn black, it was just a matter of time,” Lillard said after the game. “I’ve never had my vision get blurry like that. I opened my eye and then I was like, I saw how it was blurry, and it was like triple (vision) damn near so I called for a sub. I got to the bench and I don’t know what happened but they made me come back in and that was it. I was never about to come out the game (for good) or nothing.”
Porter got off the bench to check in, but after a quick trip to the bench and a check for blood with a towel, Lillard went back in to finish the quarter. He was 5-for-9 shooting in the first quarter but finished over the final three quarters 4 for 9. He was just 2 for 10 from behind the three-point line.
“It got better, it just was hard to keep my eye just open,” he said. “My right one I could see clear, this one was just kind of like, blurry. From the impact this side of my face was a little irritated. That was it.”
Did you notice?
The Hawks blocked three Bucks dunk attempts, and the Bucks missed four layups at or above the rim, including two from Antetokounmpo and one each from Kuzma and Lillard. The Hawks scored 11 points going the other way off those missed layups. Atlanta scored five points off one of the blocked dunk attempts – including a game-tying three-pointer by LeVert in front of the Bucks bench with 62 seconds left at 121-121 when Gueye blocked an Antetokounmpo dunk attempt.
Five numbers
13: Rebounds for Brook Lopez, a season high. His previous best was 10 rebounds against Houston on Nov. 18.22: Points Giannis Antetokounmpo is away from reaching the 20,000 milestone.
9-3: Bucks record in the first game of back-to-backs.
14-16: Bucks record on the road, but they are 5-2 in their last seven away from Fiserv Forum. The Bucks are currently the only playoff team (a top six seed) in the Eastern Conference with a losing mark on the road, and they have not been .500 away from Fiserv Forum this season since starting the year 1-1 on Oct. 27. They were 18-22 on the road last season. From 2018-23 they were one of the best teams on the road in the NBA, compiling a 123-74 (62.4%) record away from Milwaukee.
17-9: Hawks run to start the second quarter against the Bucks bench unit, flipping a 37-33 first quarter deficit to a 50-46 lead by the time Giannis Antetokounmpo checked back in. Atlanta had a 10-0 run in that stretch which saw them take 10 shots to Milwaukee’s five, thanks to multiple offensive rebounds and a Bucks turnover.
Hawks coach Quin Snyder misses game with illness
Atlanta was without head coach Quin Snyder for the game, as he elected to sit out the game after falling ill with flu-like symptoms. He coached the Hawks to a victory in Memphis on Monday and did his usual pregame media availability. Assistant Igor Kokoškov replaced Snyder as the acting head coach for the Hawks.
Is Giannis playing?
The Bucks’ superstar is probable to play as he’s still managing the after-effects of a left calf strain. Since coming back from the injury out of the all-star break, Antetokounmpo has not missed a game but has been on a minute restriction of about 32 per game.
Kyle Kuzma upgraded with ankle sprain
Kyle Kuzma stepped on Giannis Antetokounmpo as they both went for a rebound in Dallas on March 1, spraining his right ankle. An MRI came back clean, and Kuzma didn’t really practice on Monday in Atlanta and began Tuesday as doubtful to play – but he was upgraded to questionable after the team’s shootaround.
What time is the Bucks game?
The game is scheduled to tip off at 6:30 p.m. CT.
What channel is the Bucks game on?
The game will be broadcast locally on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin with Dave Koehn, Steve Novak and Melanie Ricks on the call. Gabe Neitzel will fill in for Koehn on the WTMJ Radio and BMO Bucks Radio Network.
Bucks injury report
- Bobby Portis Jr., out (league suspension)
- Pat Connaughton, out (left calf strain)
- Pete Nance, out (left ankle sprain)
- Kyle Kuzma, questionable (right ankle sprain)
- Giannis Antetokounmpo, probable (left calf strain)
Bucks starters
- Guards: Damian Lillard, Taurean Prince
- Forwards: Kyle Kuzma, Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Center: Brook Lopez
Bucks vs. Hawks odds, over/under
Milwaukee is a 6.5-point favorite over Atlanta and the over/under is 239.5 points, per BetMGM.
