Milwaukee Bucks squander golden opportunity by losing home-court advantage
For the second straight series, the Milwaukee Bucks have dug themselves into a 1-0 hole following their 116-113 Game 1 loss to the Atlanta Hawks Wednesday night.
It was certainly not the start that the Bucks were looking for to start their Eastern Conference Finals series, especially after having regained home court advantage after getting past the second-seeded Brooklyn Nets by the skin of their teeth last round.
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That gift was obviously granted by the Hawks themselves after having upset the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. And just as the Hawks have done to start each of their series this postseason, they took Game 1 at Fiserv Forum last night in the final moments.
That was in spite of the fact that the Bucks held a 105-98 lead with under four minutes to go before the Hawks staged together their final run to battle back and eventually regain their lead for good off of a Clint Capela second chance bucket with 29.8 seconds remaining.
Now it leaves the Bucks with all of the urgency in the world to even up the series at a game a piece going into Game 2 Friday night at Fiserv Forum.
The Milwaukee Bucks will have to restore balance in their Conference Finals series
Of course, the Bucks gave away home court advantage as fast as they had going into this series and they certainly picked a bad time to suffer their first home loss this postseason.
As Hawks superstar guard Trae Young spoke about to Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after putting together his 48-point performance, he and the Hawks as whole delivered quite the opening haymaker to the Bucks in Game 1:
"“We’ve been very focused and very locked in when it comes to preparing for our opponent,” Young said. “We didn’t get a high seed, so we’ve got to try to steal one on the road. Game 1 is definitely a game that you can really surprise that team. I think with the way we’ve been playing coming out of the gate, you can just tell we’re really focused on our attention to details when it comes to the other team.”"
Ratcheting up the urgency would certainly go a long way for the Bucks in trying to even up the series Friday night. Whether that’s downsizing their rotation, making in-game adjustments and playing smaller is certainly all at Milwaukee’s disposal to get the result they need to take Game 2. And it will certainly to help to have a better performance from Khris Middleton after finishing with 15 points on 23 shots (0-for-9 from deep).
Slowing down Trae Young is the key to Atlanta Hawks series. dark. Next
No matter what the reasons are, the Bucks dropped Game 1 in disappointing fashion and have only set up more pressure for themselves to take a game in Atlanta when the time comes. After getting to the Conference Finals in dramatic fashion, they’re certainly boiling up the drama and stakes once again this round.