The Hawks’ winning streak now runs to five.
The Atlanta Hawks notched their fifth successive victory, the latest coming in an impressive road win against the Milwaukee Bucks — winners of seven straight games prior to last night — on Wednesday night, 119-104.
Jalen Johnson led the Hawks with 23 points and 13 rebounds with De’Andre Hunter adding another 20 points off the bench. For the Bucks, Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 31 points, and Damian Lillard contributed 25 points to the Milwaukee cause.
For the game itself: Hawks create separation in third quarter
Not the for the first time this season, the Hawks began the opening phase of this game on the back foot, with the Bucks taking a 16-6 lead behind a strong opening from Taurean Prince. Similarly, it was not the first time that the Hawks managed to produce a response after falling behind early. The Hawks’ second unit once again showed its strength in depth as they rallied to take the lead before the end of the first quarter, scoring 37 points.
Behind a hot quarter from Bogdan Bogdanovic (13 points and three three-pointers) the Hawks took a double-digit lead into the break, before a strong opening to the second half quickly saw the Hawks go up by 20 points. The Bucks responded, bringing this lead down to eight and a Hawks timeout with 3:33 remaining. The response from the Hawks after this Milwaukee run was perhaps one of the more defining runs of the game, so let’s take a quick look at how the Hawks reestablished control.
To begin, Onyeka Okongwu tips in a miss from Hunter. A common theme of the night was the Hawks racking up offensive rebounds and punishing the Bucks for it (more on that later):
After a bricked miss from Gary Trent Jr., Hunter gets himself to the free throw line after drawing a foul from Antetokounmpo, where he would convert both free throws:
The Hawks produce another stop, this time as Okongwu challenges Delon Wright at the rim, and Antetokounmpo is called for offensive interference:
Okongwu was fortunate not to be called for a foul, making contact with Wright’s outstretched arm, but it was one of many, many missed calls on both sides last night — this one going in Atlanta’s favor this time.
After misses on both sides, the Hawks come again through Hunter, who takes advantage of his matchup with A.J. Green, hitting a three over the top to push the Hawks’ lead back up to 15 points:
A made basket by Bobby Portis brought the lead briefly down to 13 points, but after a missed three from Okongwu the Bucks fail to collect the rebound. Instead, Kobe Bufkin pounces upon the board and offloads it to Johnson, who finishes at the rim through contact for the basket, plus the foul:
Johnson’s free throw put the Hawks back up by 16 points — the Milwaukee storm not just weathered but very much responded to — giving the Hawks control in this game again.
The Bucks were able to briefly bring the lead back down to single digits in the fourth quarter but never below seven points, and some extremely sloppy back-and-forth play from both sides — which the officials let go — helped buy time for the Hawks and the visitors established themselves again by double-digits to seal this game comfortably and take an impressive road win.
While Trae Young was limited in this game, he was a willing passer and so were his teammates, combining for 29 assists in total, and this pleased Hawks head coach Quin Snyder.
“It doesn’t have to always touch everybody’s hands but when it does it’s a pretty good signal of a team making the right play,” said Snyder of the ball movement. “Sometimes we call it ‘good-to-great.’ Someone might have a shot and you move it one more time. Those are usually shots that guys are hit at a high percentage because they feel their teammate has confidence in them.”
Hawks run Bucks over in transition
What appeared to be a clear point of emphasis was the Hawks’ intention and willingness to run down the Bucks’ throat. The Bucks are an older team and were on the second night of a back-to-back having played in Detroit on Tuesday.
The Hawks scored 30 fastbreak points, running at the Bucks all night long, whether it was off of rebounds or Milwaukee turnovers.
This was the case from the Hawks’ first basket of the game, as a miss from Antetokounmpo is pounced on by Johnson, who leads the fastbreak before delivering a great pass to the streaking Zaccharie Risacher, who finishes with the dunk:
In transition, Dyson Daniels runs down the throat of the defense before dropping it off to Risacher again, who finishes at the rim:
Next, Hunter gets a hand in for the steal and shifts the ball to Bogdanovic who leads the break, drawing the defense and connecting with Hunter for the alley-oop:
Bogdanovic and Hunter combine again, this time it’s Bogdanovic who comes up with the steal and finds Hunter, who finds the trailing Okongwu for the basket and the foul:
Johnson again brings the ball up the floor, and Bogdanovic is able to cut behind the defense and is found by Johnson for an easy basket:
On this play, Young pushes up the floor and gets to his runner as the Bucks’ defense back-pedals:
Off of a Bucks miss, Johnson is already setting off in transition and is found by Clint Capela with the outlet pass for the dunk:
This time off of a turnover, the Hawks take advantage of the Bucks in transition as Daniels finds Johnson who gets downhill and dunks at the rim with the Bucks’ defense nowhere to be found:
In full court, Johnson pushes all the way up the floor and gets all the way to the rim for the basket:
As you’ve probably noticed, Jalen Johnson has been at the heart of so many of these transition baskets, contributing to his team-leading 10 fastbreak points and 20 points in the paint. 18 Milwaukee turnovers certainly helped the Hawks fuel their transition offense, especially at the end of the first quarter.
Honestly, there were about six or seven more clips that could’ve been used here to illustrate how emphatically the Hawks throttled the Bucks in transition, outscoring the hosts 30-12.
Combined with another aspect of the miscellaneous boxscore, the Hawks were very much in the ascendancy…
A dominant display on the glass and in the paint
The Hawks absolutely dominated the Bucks on the glass, outrebounding 55-39 and snatching 16 offensive rebounds, leading to 21 second chance points.
Clint Capela was excellent in this regard on both ends of the floor, grabbing 17 rebounds in total and six offensive rebounds. Johnson chipped in for three offensive rebounds and Risacher was very impressive in this department too, contributing four offensive rebounds for the cause.
These second chance opportunities helped the Hawks score second chances in the paint, boosting the paint point total to 60. Compared to the Bucks’ 34 paint points, it was a significant win for the Hawks and a needed one, considering the Bucks hit 15 threes to the Hawks’ nine threes.
The Hawks’ second chances were such to the point that the Hawks attempted 25 more shots than the Bucks; 103 field goal attempts to Milwaukee’s 78 field goal attempts. When you get a chance to take 25 more shots, that’s a lot for an opposing team to overcome, because even if you make 11 of those, for example, that’s at least 22 extra points — it’s a huge number in the Hawks’ favor to get 25 extra opportunities to score. Part of that does come down to turnovers, another stat in the boxscore that the Hawks won (11 turnovers to Milwaukee’s 18).
The Bucks couldn’t capitalize on this, nor on their free throws. Antetokounmpo could only hit 15 of his 26 free throw attempts. The Hawks, as a team, attempted 22 free throws, making 20 of them. The Bucks shot 23-of-35 from the line.
Bench depth pulls through again
The Hawks’ bench once again helped swing a game, this time in the first quarter as the Hawks pulled themselves out of a double-digit deficit to take a lead. With Young leading the lineup, the bench unit of Hunter, Bogdanovic, and Okongwu were, again, superb.
Hunter poured out another 20-point performance but his defense was very strong, creating turnovers and leading fastbreaks as we’ve looked at already. Okongwu scored 13 points off the bench and was a threat in second chance opportunities, while Bogdanovic has begun to shake off some of the rust from a long summer and injury, scoring 15 points, including those 13 in the second quarter.
More than this, what Snyder was impressed by was Bogdanovic’s defense.
“I don’t think ‘Bogi’s had a slump because of the way he’s defending,” said Snyder of Bogdanovic coming through his shooting slump. “It’s a perfect example that our whole team needs to grab on to: whether you’re making or missing, whether we’re making shots or missing shots, as long as they’re good shots that’s the key. Find a way to impact the game in other ways. That’s what he’s doing that’s so impressive. His intensity, his communication, his focus on the defensive end. We know ‘Bogi’ can make shots.”
Bogdanovic’s help defense on Antetokounmpo in particular was very impactful in slowing him down at times. Bogdanovic also came up with five steals, including this impressive steal from behind on Portis:
Bufkin played well in his 12 minutes, despite shooting 1-of-5 from the field. The Hawks were still plus-7 with Bufkin on the court, with the Hawks’ bench totaling a plus/minus of plus-52. Plus/minus can be a subjective stat at times, but I think on this occasion it tells an accurate picture as to how impactful the Hawks’ bench was last night.
The Bucks, conversely, couldn’t get anything consistent from their bench, so much to the point that Bucks head coach Doc Rivers went searching in the fourth quarter and called upon Pat Connaughton for the first time in a desperate attempt to find…anything.
All in all…
The Bucks may have been on the second night of a back-to-back, but they were on their home floor, were one of the hottest teams in the league in terms of current form, and were favored to win.
The Hawks came in, fell behind early, but responded again through their second unit and the starters reinforced their double-digit lead in the early stages of the third quarter. The Bucks had a run in them, but the Hawks’ immediate response was very good and stopped the bleeding and put them on the front-foot again. The Bucks never really threatened in the fourth quarter and the Hawks eased through to a comfortable road win.
Trae Young was limited in this one, and 0-of-9 from three is a concern, but he got off the ball and those around him stepped up and made plays. Jalen Johnson was excellent last night, scoring 23 points on 10-of-19 from the field. He was excellent in transition, where the Hawks absolutely destroyed the Bucks in addition to on the glass and second chance scoring. The bench was excellent too, led by De’Andre Hunter’s 20 points.
The Hawks were well worth their victory, in almost every facet of the game, and their hot-run continues as they move above .500.
The Hawks (12-11) are back in action on Friday when they take on the Los Angeles Lakers (12-10), who are coming off a 41-point loss in Miami.
Until next time!