The Milwaukee Bucks have some business to attend to going into Game 2 of their Conference Finals series with the Atlanta Hawks.
Friday night will give the Bucks an opportunity to even up the series after dropping Game 1 against the Hawks in what ended up being a 116-113 loss for Milwaukee. No matter how many ways you break it, it was surely a disappointing note to start off their series, especially after having outlast the Brooklyn Nets last round.
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With plenty of urgency to take a game in Milwaukee before the series shifts back to Atlanta, the Bucks will have to make some major adjustments and have more room for improvement to get the result they need in Game 2 to even up the series.
So without further ado, let’s explore some of the biggest improvements that the Milwaukee Bucks must make to take Game 2 against the Atlanta Hawks.
Milwaukee Bucks have to key in on Trae Young further following Game 1 loss
After seeing him go off for 48 points in the Hawks’ clutch Game 1 win, Trae Young seems more powerful than ever.
The third-year guard was in full control for the vast majority of Atlanta’s win over the Bucks as he smoothly took the reins of the Hawks’ offense that proved to be too much for the Bucks’ vaulted defense. It helped Young finish with not just 48 points on 34 shots (4-for-13 from three, 10-for-12 from the free throw line) and 11 assists as well as six turnovers in over 41 minutes of run.
None of this should come as a surprise. Young was the biggest Hawks player for the Bucks to key in on going into this series. However, it was surely surprising to see Young and the Hawks face a path of least resistance when it comes to the long runway Young had in operating pick-and-rolls and with the ball in hands.
16 of Young’s points came in the paint and he was 5-for-11 on shots taken in the paint outside of the restricted area 5-for-6 on mid-range shots, per NBA.com/stats. Looks like the following came all too easy for Young throughout the night and it surely helped spark the offensive explosion he drew down on the Bucks.
Teague’s spot minutes surely helped light Young’s scoring fire, but Jrue Holiday put in an uncharacteristic performance that did very little to douse the fire out. Young scored 13 points on 5-for-8 shooting (0-for-2 from three, 3-for-3 from the free throw line), four assists and three turnovers across 28.1 partial possessions.
Just as was the case when the Bucks were dueling it out against the Nets, they appear to be comfortable with what the Hawks’ leading superstar gets. However, they surely can tighten things up and make things more difficult for Young in order to prevent he and the Hawks from imposing their will and dictate the proceedings just as they largely did in Game 1.