Milwaukee Bucks: 3 takeaways from frustrating loss to Atlanta Hawks

Trae Young torches the Milwaukee Bucks for a season-high 42 points, leaving little chance for a road team comeback

It seems like Trae Young had a bone to pick with the Bucks last night, perhaps stemming from the two teams having met in last season’s Eastern Conference Finals. The team’s ugly six-game losing streak could have also certainly been a factor in Young’s performance last night, as he clocked in a fantastic effort to get his team back in the win column.

The All-Star guard erupted for a season-high 42 points in the win, torching the Bucks all night long as they had no answer whatsoever to his onslaught. He was efficient with his scoring by shooting 16-of-26 (61.5 percent) from the floor, including 8-of-13 (61.5 percent) from deep. The Bucks put Jrue Holiday on the star from the jump, but even the three-time All-Defensive honoree struggled to make an impact on this great performance. Young would often hunt out mismatches to be put up against the much bigger Portis, who he took advantage of throughout the game. In addition to his scoring outburst, the guard made sure to keep his teammates involved with 10 assists.

Young’s heroic performance sunk the Bucks as he would bury them a little deeper whenever they looked to be crawling out of their deficit. As evidenced by Game 1 in last season’s playoff series against these Hawks – where Young dominated to hand Milwaukee their only home loss of the entire postseason – you have to find a way to contain Young to win the game. Unfortunately, the Bucks could not even phase him as he had it going all night.

At 6-8 on the season, there is certainly some reasonable concern with the Bucks right now. Hopefully, they can get back on track when they take on the Los Angeles Lakers this Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. CST on ESPN.