Coming off a thrilling Game 7 win against the Brooklyn Nets, the Milwaukee Bucks were unable to sustain that momentum in last night’s contest.
Despite kicking off the Eastern Conference Finals in their home arena in front of the Milwaukee crowd, it was the opposing Atlanta Hawks that handled business. After a grueling 48 minutes that saw the Bucks make countless self-inflicted errors that could have been easily avoided, the Hawks silenced the crowd with a 116-113 victory in Game 1.
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It was an embarrassing effort from the Bucks, several specific players particularly, as they have already lost homecourt leverage by inexcusably dropping this game. Although they are far younger and inexperienced compared to the Bucks, these Hawks are hungry, and now, they smell blood in the water.
Game 2 will call for many adjustments from Milwaukee, but before then, here are three takeaways from last night’s brutal start to the series.
The Milwaukee Bucks attack down low with another poor outside shooting night in Game 1 against Hawks
The Bucks have been horrendous with their 3-point shooting in these playoffs and that trend certainly carried over to begin the Eastern Conference Finals.
Shooting just 8-of-36 from behind the arc, this team could not throw the ball into an ocean whatsoever. With their outside shot failing to drop, the Bucks attacked the basket more often, where they unsurprisingly saw success. Outscoring the Hawks 70-54 in the paint for the game, this plan was a nice pivot for the Bucks, although the end result left their efforts ultimately short of securing a victory.
Milwaukee’s leading scorer Giannis Antetokounmpo was a driving force in this onslaught by scoring 28 of his 34 total points in the paint on the night, according to NBA.com/stats. Only attempting two triples on the evening – both of which he missed – Antetokounmpo understood that he needs to do his damage close to the basket and leave the jumpers in the holster for another day.
Another household player that had a solid impact by scoring in the paint was Bobby Portis, who made his return to the rotation after sitting the ladder three games against the Nets. The big man scored eight points in the paint on the night, his only other made basket coming from the 3-point range. Despite the loss, it was welcoming to see Portis make the most of his minutes by scoring 11 points, particularly with the team needing a spark.
While a perfect world would see the Bucks knock down some triples with consistency, it seems that might be too much to ask for. Instead, they will have to be keen on attacking the basket and being smart with their shot selection. As simple as that might sound, it has certainly been a problem in these playoffs to this point.