ATLANTA – The Milwaukee Bucks bought again on the successful observe Saturday evening towards the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Enviornment, almost main wire-to-wire in a 122-113 victory.
The street win for Milwaukee (47-27) gave the Bucks a three-game lead within the loss column on Cleveland for the No. 2 seed within the Japanese Convention with eight video games remaining. The Bucks head to Washington to tackle the Wizards on Tuesday. The victory additionally snapped a four-game successful streak for Atlanta (34-40).
Field rating:Bucks 122, Hawks 113
“Whole staff effort,” Bucks ahead Bobby Portis stated. “It was nice to get a win. Actually wanted it for positive after the final two video games. So, bought the style out of our mouth. Received a pair days off, go to D.C. and hopefully get one other one.”
With out all-star level guard Damian Lillard, the Bucks leaned on Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton and the Hawks had no solutions for both. Middleton scored a dozen of his 21 factors within the first quarter, because the three-time all-star set an early tone and flipped an early six-point deficit to a 33-28 lead after the primary quarter.
“Simply wished to come back out aggressive,” Middleton stated of the beginning. “I used to be in a position to get to my spots with good stability, so I needed to let it go. I felt nice. The pictures that I hit felt nice, so I wished to maintain being aggressive. As the sport went on they began to take stuff away so go to totally different actions, proceed to play the sport and let the sport come to me.”
The Bucks by no means relinquished that benefit, and Antetokounmpo helped the Bucks construct a 21-point lead by scoring 25 of his 36 factors within the second and third quarters. He had 16 within the third quarter on 6-of-9 taking pictures and 4 free throws.
However, because the Bucks have been apt to do, the offense stagnated and Hawks bought again into it.
Atlanta started the fourth quarter on a 15-5 run to chop an 89-74 deficit to 94-89 within the first couple of minutes. Milwaukee constructed the lead again to 109-97 following an Antetokounmpo three-point play, however the Bucks couldn’t sluggish Hawks ahead Bogdan Bogdanović.
Bogdanović scored 17 of his 38 factors within the fourth quarter to maintain the Hawks related at 111-103 till Antetokounmpo made a layup and Middleton drew a cost on Dejounte Murray, which arrange a Malik Beasley three-pointer and gave the Bucks a 13-point lead with below two minutes to go. Bogdanović helped minimize that lead again to seven with 29 seconds left, however Atlanta finally ran out of time.
Bogdanović added a career-high 10 rebounds.
Pat Beverley began for Lillard, and regardless of a torn ligament in his proper wrist, the veteran level guard scored 18 factors on 6-of-10 taking pictures and handed out 5 assists. It was his first sport in double figures since March 4 and his season-high level complete with Milwaukee. He scored 26 for Philadelphia on Dec. 1.
“I imply, for those who watched me in Philly when guys did not play I type of stepped as much as the plate, I did a bit little bit of every part – scoring, passing, defending,” Beverley stated. “This is similar scenario. Clearly I do know my function on this staff and that is to be a defender and are available in and attempt to make performs and spot up. However, clearly once you bought a participant like Dame out it is type of onerous to provide you that 30 (factors). However I can provide you a 30 one other approach. I can get 18, I can get 5 dimes, I can get a pair additional possessions, I get a block, a steal, subsequent factor you recognize it is twenty-seven, -eight, -nine factors.”
Beasley helped make Murray work, because the star guard scored 20 factors on 19 pictures, whereas De’Andre Hunter had 13 factors for the Hawks.
Antetokounmpo added 16 rebounds and eight assists whereas Middleton had six assists and 6 rebounds.
Bucks lean into their huge males towards smaller Hawks
Since Doc Rivers took over the Bucks, he has implored his ball handlers to move instantly into the publish when one of many huge males has a dimension benefit inside. They have been going to have that every one day towards the Hawks, whose tallest participant was 6-foot-10-inch Clint Capela – and he wasn’t going to play all 48 minutes towards the 7-foot duo of Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez, together with the 6-10 Portis.
“We believed that we had the benefit and I feel we used it all through the entire sport,” Antetokounmpo stated.
On Milwaukee’s first possession, Antetokounmpo discovered Lopez close to the rim – and the outcome was two free throws.
“If there is a small on Brook, you have to reap the benefits of that,” Antetokounmpo stated. “I do not assume we’ve got performs that we are able to get him to the publish, however like, by way of the circulate of the offense, early seals, when he runs early, run to the dunker after which he is all the time obtainable. While you attempt to play one-on-one he is all the time there to provide you an outlet. I feel he does an excellent job of understanding when to type of current himself.”
Lopez, who typically is a ground spacer now, made his presence recognized inside (13 factors) with conventional post-ups and 6 free throws. Antetokounmpo stored strain on the rim with offensive assaults from the highest of the offense. Portis, additionally not shy about taking threes, additionally did most of his work inside in scoring 13 factors on 6 of 8 taking pictures from two-point vary.
“To proceed it and preserve searching for it and do not get uninterested in throwing the ball to the publish. I wager we stated {that a} hundred occasions tonight,” Rivers stated. “OK, we bought a giant man sitting in the course of the paint, throw it to him. And in the event that they lure, throw it again out and let’s get a 3. I feel guys do not perceive, out and in basketball does not need to be with a drive – it may be with a post-to-out. I believed we did that extra tonight.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo forces solution to free throw line vs. Hawks
Scoring has been down across the league because the all-star break, and groups have seen officers are letting them play extra bodily protection. It’s a change the Bucks have embraced, particularly with an even bigger staff that lacks the quickness some youthful, smaller opponents. However that change has additionally affected the Bucks offense in that Antetokounmpo and Lillard really feel they haven’t gotten to the free throw line as typically.
The numbers don’t essentially bear that out for Antetokounmpo, however he entered Saturday with seven video games with 9 or fewer makes an attempt because the league restarted after the all-star break Feb. 23.
Three of these got here in consecutive video games from March 21-26 earlier than he went 5-for-11 towards New Orleans on Thursday.
Antetokounmpo was 12-for-27 (44%) from the road in his final 4 video games earlier than enjoying the Hawks.
“I’m not making my free throws and I feel the reason being I’m not attending to the road sufficient,” Antetokounmpo stated after the sport in New Orleans. “The extra I get within the line, the extra snug I get, the extra I shoot, the extra I really feel it, the extra I can repeat the sensation. Simply gotta determine methods as a result of I really like once I’m in a position to get to the free throw line and that’s once I may also help my staff. If I can get to the free throw line eight to 10 occasions a sport I really feel good. I can create fouls, I can create plenty of hassle. I’m simply going to maintain on forcing the problem and making an attempt to get there.”
He did precisely that towards the Hawks.
Antetokounmpo tried 16 free throws and he did discover a rhythm, too, making 12. However he additionally didn’t get some calls, at the same time as he drew contact and hit the court docket a few occasions. Antetokounmpo completed the day 12 of twenty-two taking pictures.
“You get extra snug, man,” Antetokounmpo stated of his efficiency on the line towards Atlanta. “The extra you shoot the extra snug you get. With lacking, with making, with getting there you simply get extra snug. I feel I’ve stated it, the toughest half is to get there. To not make them. The toughest half is to get to the free throw line, so I am simply making an attempt to get there as a lot as I can.”
In 54 video games earlier than the all-star break, Antetokounmpo averaged 10.9 free throw makes an attempt a sport, making 65.3% of them. He had 24 video games of 9 makes an attempt or fewer.
Coming into the sport towards Atlanta, he had averaged 10.7 per sport in 14 video games after the break, making 67.3% of them. Not solely did Antetokounmpo shoot 16 free throws, however Lopez added six, which was tied for the second-most he is had in a sport this season.
“In case you return to the Oklahoma (Metropolis) sport (on March 24), and we talked about it in shootaround, I feel we had 9 or 11 bigs down low – we have had two since,” Rivers stated of the publish presence towards Atlanta. “So if you wish to know why you do not go to the free throw line as a gaggle, nicely, nobody’s within the paint. Tonight we drove the ball within the paint, we posted the ball within the paint and we bought fouled. And we bought to the road. What it does, particularly towards a staff like Atlanta, it lets you set your protection. Since you do not need to play the Velocity Racer sport towards them as a result of that is what they do. However us attending to the road allowed us to make use of our dimension after which us to have the ability to put our arms on ’em on protection.”
Lillard has felt the consequences of a modified whistle much more, averaging 7.6 journeys to the road earlier than the break (51 video games) and simply 4.6 within the 17 video games he’s performed after the break.
However the decline in calls he’s gotten started a lot earlier – starting particularly in Rivers’ first sport as head coach on Jan. 29 in Denver.
Within the 25 video games he’s performed, Lillard has gone to the road 4.7 occasions per sport and has only one sport when he’s tried 10 or extra free throws (March 4). Within the 43 video games previous to Rivers taking up, Lillard averaged 8.1 free throws and topped 10 on 18 events.
Did you discover? Bobby Portis throws down lob dunk from Khris Middleton
With 3 minutes 53 seconds left within the first quarter Portis lastly bought one.
Middleton drove down the middle of the lane and lofted his patented one-handed lob – which frequently finds Antetokounmpo skying above the rim – however this time it was Portis able to catch and slam together with his proper hand.
“It felt nice man,” Portis stated with a giant smile. “Really I slipped out of the pick-and-roll and more often than not Khris does not hit the pocket once you’re in the course of the lane, he throws it to the rim. And really when it hit my hand I used to be like, nicely, I am gonna attempt to dunk this one. Dunked it and it felt good. After which proper after I dunked it Khris hit me with the ‘OK ‘BP!’ So I used to be like, yeah, I type of stunned myself a bit bit.”
Portis had joked after a mid-March observe that he had just one lob dunk try in his Bucks profession and he missed it. Beverley had tried him, however the ball didn’t go down.
“It got here out,” Portis stated incredulously after a March 16 observe. “Like, what’s the percentages? Like, actually, what’s the percentages of that taking place? What’s the percentages of me lacking that? I don’t keep in mind me catching one the primary three years. It’s a loopy stat. Oh-for-one. Zero p.c.”
He bought one other likelihood towards Oklahoma Metropolis on March 24 from Andre Jackson Jr. and missed that one, too.
This time he cashed in emphatically from the most effective lob passer on the staff.
“He caught me off guard. I threw him one a pair video games in the past, I feel it went off his fingertips and I wasn’t too blissful in regards to the move. This time I advised him I simply needed to put it to a spot the place I believed he was going to come back down with it. He flushed it and it was good. It was good. Comfortable to be a part of his first lob right here, first one in a pair years for him for positive.”
5 numbers in Bucks vs. Hawks
1-5 Bucks file with out Damian Lillard this season.
Rivers: “They needed to (step up). It is powerful as a result of Dame’s a degree guard, so you are taking the ball out of his arms, you set it in Giannis’ arms, you set it in Pat Beverley’s arms, Pat Connaughton to run your offense. Khris Middleton. All of them did job.”
18-19 Bucks’ street file this season. Milwaukee and Orlando (17-19) are the one playoff groups below .500 on the street. The opposite 10 groups within the high six of every convention have successful information on the street.
36-15 Factors and rebounds for Giannis Antetokounmpo, who recorded his 28th sport of no less than 30 factors and 10 rebounds, which moved him previous Adrian Dantley (1981-82) for the second most in a single season. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had a file 30 video games within the Bucks’ 1970-71 title season.
761 Made two-point area objectives on the season by Antetokounmpo, probably the most of his profession. It additionally moved him previous Terry Cummings (759 in 1984-85) for eighth-most in a single season in Bucks historical past. Abdul-Jabbar holds the franchise file with 1,159, set in 1971-72.
900 Steals for Antetokounmpo after he picked off the Hawks 3 times, making him the second Bucks participant to succeed in that quantity. He trails solely franchise chief Quinn Buckner (1,042).
Damian Lillard dominated out for private causes
Lillard, the Bucks’ all-star level guard, had a troublesome sport on Thursday evening in New Orleans, as he was kneed within the calf within the first half after which required stitches in his decrease lip within the third quarter. Then, he was dominated out Saturday for private causes and was not with the staff in Atlanta.
Rivers stated there’s a likelihood Lillard misses the remainder of the street journey, because the staff heads to Washington to face the Wizards on Tuesday earlier than returning to Milwaukee on Wednesday to play Memphis.
Lillard missed the Bucks’ Jan. 8 sport towards Utah for private causes, additionally.
Saturday was simply the sixth sport Lillard has missed this season and his first since Feb. 8.
“Simply miss the ‘once you want a bucket,’ you may have Dame,” Rivers stated earlier than the sport. “Additionally simply operating the staff at occasions. It shortens your rotation once more. Khris (Middleton) continues to be on a semi-minute restriction, regardless that we’ve ignored it a pair occasions. Simply shortens your rotation.”