Hawks fall short in Milwaukee, 132-121

The Atlanta Hawks (9-9) took on the Milwaukee Bucks (13-6) on Saturday night. This was the fifth and final game of the the Hawks’ early season road-trip, as they will be returning to Atlanta for a matchup against the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday.

The Hawks used an egalitarian offensive attack to beat Milwaukee 127-110 on the road back on October 29, with eight players taking at least nine shots, and scoring 12 or more points. Dejounte Murray held Damian Lillard to just six points on 2-for-12 shooting in the first matchup between these two sides. Atlanta hoped to follow a similar path to victory tonight.

The Hawks got out to a hot start on the offensive end, hitting seven out of their first 10 shots en route to an early 20-17 lead.

Shortly after a Bucks timeout, Bogdan Bogdonavic turned this steal into an easy slam to extend Atlanta’s lead to five.

However the Bucks would respond with a 23-13 run to close the quarter, and Atlanta trailed 42-37.

It was a familiar story for the Hawks in the opening frame, as their offense was scorching hot, going 14-for-23 (60.8%) from the field, and 3-for-5 from 3. However, their defense let them down, as they allowed Milwaukee to shoot 18-for-26 (69.2%) and 5-for-8 from downtown.

Trae Young was feeling it to start the second quarter, hitting two step-back triples in the first five minutes to cut Milwaukee’s lead to two.

The two sides traded punches for the rest of the quarter, and the Hawks trailed 67-63 heading into the break.

Atlanta’s backcourt was spectacular on the offensive end in the first half. Trae Young racked up 20 points and 6 assists, while Dejounte Murray scored 18 points and shot 4-for-5 from three-point range.

Milwaukee were the better transition team in the first half, and held a 13-4 advantage in fast-break points.

The Hawks opened the second half on an 11-4 run (courtesy of two Damian Lillard turnovers), forcing Bucks head coach, Adrian Griffin, to call an early timeout.

Trae Young continued to make it rain from beyond the arc, knocking down this three over the outstretched arms of Malik Beasley.

However Milwaukee continued to dominate from inside the arc (42-32 PITP advantage through 3 quarters), and Atlanta trailed by one with 12 minutes left to play.

The Hawks began the fourth quarter with their two-big lineup, and it was great to see Capela and Okongwu connect on this play early in the quarter.

With the score knotted at 114, a Damian Lillard floater followed by a Cameron Payne three-pointer put the Bucks up by five with 4:42 left to play.

A Lillard jam with with 1:20 left to play, extended Milwaukee’s lead to nine, and the Bucks closed the game on an 18-7 run to put the game to bed. When the final buzzer sounded, the Hawks lost by a final score of 132-121.

Trae Young finished with 32 points and 12 assists. Dejounte Murray finished with 30 points. Giannis Antetokounmpo was the high-man for Milwaukee with 32 points.