Milwaukee Bucks: 3 key improvements following Game 1 loss to Atlanta Hawks

The Milwaukee Bucks have to collect on the glass at all costs following Game 1 loss

The rebounding battle between the Bucks and the Hawks was surely one of the biggest keys going into the series, especially after the three regular season matchups between both sides.

It didn’t disappoint and it certainly loomed large as the Bucks collapsed late to the Hawks, especially down the stretch. After collecting 80.4 percent of the Hawks’ misses during the first half, the Bucks only grabbed 57.7 percent of defensive rebounds during the second half of Game 1. That latter mark is the lowest defensive rebounding percentage that the Bucks have compiled in a half these playoffs.

Going smaller and turning to a more switching defense certainly attributed to that. We saw the Hawks come up with big second chance scores throughout the fourth quarter, whether it was John Collins cleaning up and throwing a tip-in slam to make it a 105-100 game with 3:42 to remaining or Clint Capela’s decisive putback to put the Hawks back up for good with 29.8 seconds to go.

This all reinforces the occasional reluctance we’ve seen in the Bucks not turning to switching for any great lengths of time and it requires everyone in a unit to track down rebounds. The effort and hustle showed as Game 1 went on was suspect as the Hawks had 13 second chance points on nine offensive rebounds in the second half alone.

The offensive rebounds the Hawks got throughout the night surely stuck in the craw of Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo as he talked about after the game, per ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz:

"“I think the most frustrating part of this game is the offensive rebounds,” Antetokounmpo said. “We had two or three offensive rebounds back to back and they got a 3 out of it. They got the game-winning bucket out of it by Clint Capela.”"

Those are the margins that the Bucks have addressed all postseason long, yet it bit them in Game 1 against the Hawks. With a better use of effort, hustle and discipline, the Bucks will have to impose their will and do so where they know best on the glass.