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.
The Milwaukee Bucks’ bench is a no show in the loss to Hawks
Milwaukee’s bench was dominant in the team’s 132-94 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday, chipping in an impressive 76 points in that contest.
While no one expected the second unit to remain consistent with that high-end level of production on a game-to-game basis, it was assuring to see the bench have their best collective effort of the season. However, their efforts against the Hawks were on the opposite end of the complete opposite end of the spectrum by scoring just 15 points.
Bobby Portis led the charge by scoring 10 points on 3-of-7 shooting, including 2-of-3 from distance. Aside from canning a pair of triples, Milwaukee’s leading scorer off the bench this season struggled to find any rhythm offensively in this one, which undoubtedly hurt the overall production of the second unit in totality.
The only other contributor that logged a point in the second unit was Pat Connaughton, who finished with five points on just 2-of-5 shooting. Bryn Forbes, who has provided an essential shooting spark off the bench this season, found himself in a rare cold spell by finishing the night scoreless on 0-of-5 shooting in 14 minutes.
The production gap from Milwaukee’s bench unit between these past two games could not be far from different as they continue struggling to find any consistency this season.
Big night from the Milwaukee Bucks’ leading trio is not enough in loss to Hawks
With the little production they got from the second unit, the Bucks turned to their top trio to step up against the Hawks, and they delivered.
Giannis Antetokounmpo paved the way once again by leading the team in scoring with 31 points on 11-for-17. Although he connected on just one of his three attempts from long range, Antetokounmpo was in a solid groove scoring all night, but it ultimately was not enough in the end. Also hauling in 14 rebounds and dishing out four assists, last night was another MVP-caliber performance from the Greek Freak.
Khris Middleton followed suit by overcoming a cold shooting start and eventually finishing with 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting, including 3-of-5 from deep. The forward’s production has been all over the place this past month, making it welcoming to see him find some rhythm as the game progressed, despite the loss.
Lastly, Jrue Holiday provided one of the bigger bright spots in the loss by finishing with 19 points on a highly efficient 72.7 percent shooting. Excluding a pair of pivotal missed free throws late, Holiday was in a nice groove from start to finish as he continued putting points on the scoreboard. In addition to his stellar scoring touch, the guard tallied 11 assists on the night to log his fifth double-double of the season to go along with five rebounds.
This trio has the potential to be dangerous when they are all firing on all cylinders like this, but they will need more production from the supporting cast. It certainly stings to lose in this fashion, particularly against a potential playoff opponent, though the Hawks are standing two games above the sixth seed after this win.
Milwaukee will look to avoid getting swept in their season series against the Charlotte Hornets, and you can catch that action at 6:00 p.m. CST on Bally Sports Wisconsin for those viewing locally.