Atlanta Hawks Game Preview: Final Battle with Bucks

A quick preview of the Atlanta Hawks game tonight against the Milwaukee Bucks.

For the fourth and final time this year, the Atlanta Hawks will face off against the East-leading Milwaukee Bucks. Last time these two teams met, Milwaukee was lacking most of its recognizable players, yet it took overtime and a last-second floater/tip-in from Trae Young to defeat the Bucks.

Before that, the Bucks waxed the Hawks earlier in the year on two occasions, so, in this one, the Hawks will be looking to even the season series – or tank heroically and nobly as they did in the last game they played on Friday against the Orlando Magic.

In that game, they allowed the franchise’s highest point total in regulation since the breakneck NBA pace of the 1960s, when Oscar Robertson and the Cincinnati Royals scored 156 points on December 5, 1969. The Magic dropped a wicked 149-burger on the Hawks in Orlando, as they look to secure a playoff berth.

The Bucks have long been safe in the team’s playoff aspirations, and, beyond that, they have locked up the best record across the entire league – securing Milwaukee home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

This is definitely a boon for the Coach Bud-led squad, as the Bucks had a whopping 32-7 record on its home court at the newly built Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee – one of the best records in the league at home.

This game also should have plenty of intrigue on the Atlanta Hawks side too, due to the team’s immensely long injury list.

For the first time this season, Trae Young will be on that list. He is questionable due to load management:

Though it would be a shame for Trae to not play and start in 82 games as a rookie, his future health is the far more important thing for this franchise, so if he sits out, so be it.

This game tips off at 7:00 p.m. EST.