Milwaukee Bucks: 3 takeaways from 111-104 loss to the Atlanta Hawks

Just as it seemed like the Milwaukee Bucks had finally started to gain some momentum, they suffered yet another setback on Sunday night.

Playing on the second night of a back-to-back, the Bucks kicked off a four-game road swing by taking on the shorthanded Atlanta Hawks. Despite the quick turnaround with no rest, this was a very winnable game for the Bucks, particularly as Atlanta was without All-Star guard Trae Young and a handful of other key pieces for the matchup.

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However, after a back and forth battle, Atlanta surprisingly handled their business and took down Milwaukee 111-104. Their big win was largely thanks to the heroics from the sharpshooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, a name that most Bucks fans dread hearing these days.

Bogdanovic has been on a tear throughout the month of April, and he continued his recent scoring surge by going off for 32 points on 12-of-21 shooting from the floor, including 6-of-11 from behind the arc against Milwaukee.

The Bucks had no answer for the guard’s prolific scoring in the contest as he propelled the Hawks to victory, but that was just one of the many storylines from the matchup. Bogdanovic’s big night aside, here are three takeaways from Milwaukee’s ugly loss to the Atlanta Hawks last night.

A late collapse dooms the Milwaukee Bucks in the loss to the Hawks

Although the margin was small, the Bucks appeared to be in control of this game after three quarters as they were ahead 78-70.

However, the Hawks flipped the switch and came out red hot in the final period of action, particularly with their shooting from the perimeter. Shooting an astounding 8-for-11 from deep across the final 12 minutes, Atlanta erased Milwaukee’s lead in a hurry and soon buried them with a barrage of triples.

The Bucks’ perimeter defense went stagnant in the final quarter by losing track of the aforementioned Bogdanovic and Lou Williams on multiple opportunities that eventually turned into more open shots. The pair combined for 14 points on 5-for-6 shooting in the closing portion of the game, torching the Bucks and ending any hope of them pulling off the late comeback.

The bombardment of late 3-pointers helped the Hawks score a whopping 41 points in the quarter, which easily outscored the Bucks’ 26 fourth quarter points. This team had endured their share of fourth quarter setbacks on multiple occasions this season and last night’s brutal effort down the stretch shows that they are still trying to figure it out consistently.