Big Fourth Quarter Pushes the Bucks Past the Hawks

Bobby Portis came off the bench and had a great opening quarter for the Bucks, scoring 13. Middleton had 10 and Giannis had nine. 

The defense for the Hawks did tighten up and get better in the second quarter. Milwaukee scored only 25 points in the quarter and it was also when Young started to get going. Trae has been playing at a high level on the road trip aside from a bad game vs the Cavs and he showed it with a 20-point first half. Milwaukee led 67-63 at the half. 

Atlanta shot 49.0% from the field and 53.8% from three in the first half. Young had 20 points and six assists while Murray had 18 points, 

Milwaukee did not shoot as well in the second quarter but still finished the first half shooting 57.4% from the field and 44.4% from three. Giannis had 15 points, four rebounds and five assists. Lillard had 12 points and six assists and Portis had 13 points and four rebounds. 

After Atlanta closed the gap in the second quarter and continued that in the third. The Hawks opened on a 9-4 run and took the lead 72-71. Atlanta would keep that lead while both teams went back and forth and it was like that all quarter. 

Bogdan Bogdanovic nailed a three to cut the lead to one buzzer sounded and it was setting up to be a good finish in Milwaukee. The Hawks were trailing 99-98 going into the final quarter and Trae Young went for another 40-point game. 

The Hawks began the 4th quarter with both Okongwu and Capela on the floor and that was something I was hoping to see to start the game. 

Atlanta got the lead back when Capela found Okongwu for a quick layup and then it was taken back by a Cam Payne floater. Bogi hit a three on the other end and then Payne responded by tying the game up 103-103. Both defenses were struggling to stop the other at the start of it. 

Capela continued to dominate the boards and Young would continue to run the offense to a high level. 

The Bucks were over the foul limit halfway through the quarter and the Hawks had yet to commit a team foul. The Hawks came into the game 5th in free throw rate and were set to take full advantage. 

With 4:59 left in the game, Milwaukee led 116-114. Payne then knocked in a big three to give Milwaukee a five-point lead, but there was still plenty of time left and Murray would hit a shot to cut it to three with 3:40 left. 

After a bucket from Lillard extended the lead back to five, Giannis got a fast break opportunity and there is nobody in the NBA that can stop that. He hit the layup, got fouled, but missed the free throw and the lead was 123-116 with 2:15 remaining. 

In the end, the Bucks' top players were able to make the difficult shots. Lillard hit shots in clutch time to lift Milwaukee over Atlanta. Milwaukee went on a big run at the end of the game and won 132-121. 

Milwaukee won the 4th quarter 33-23. The defense was not good, but the offense could not get anything going at the end of the game. 

The Hawks shot 44.6% from the field and 39.5% from three. Young finished with 32 points and 12 assists while Murray had 30 points on 12-19 shooting. 

The Bucks shot 59.6% from the field and 42.4% from three. Giannis had 32 points while Lillard had 25. 

This loss drops Atlanta to 9-10 this season. The Hawks will have three days rest going back to Atlanta and will face the Brooklyn Nets at home on Wednesday. 

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