There are ugly games and then there are ugly games and the Atlanta Hawks 125-91 thrashing at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks is definitely the latter. From the very jump, the Hawks looked a step slow but it remained a close game. After one quarter it was still close, but things unraveled rather quickly from there.
The Hawks were outscored 43-17 in the second quarter. They shot 7-for-21 from the floor “led” by Trae Young who went 2-for-7 and 1-for-5 from outside. He also had five of his nine turnovers as the Bucks defense was all over him early and often.
It was better after the break, relatively speaking. Atlanta still got outscored, but only by eight points, a much more reasonable margin under normal circumstances.
Good to have you back, Cam 🙌 pic.twitter.com/vrXTqvUuX8
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) June 26, 2021
Being down by as much as 41 points like the Hawks were is certainly not normal.
Young’s 15 points wound up leading the team on a night when the starters were pulled before the fourth quarter. It was as disappointing of a loss as one could imagine following their win in Game 1. It seemed like they weren’t prepared for the Bucks to adjust and when their first plan of attack (Young) didn’t work, everything fell apart.
The Atlanta Hawks have to make some critical adjustments to their game plan after being blown out in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals
The bright side is we finally got to see Cam Reddish in a game for the first time since February. He looked good too, all things considered, with 11 points on 4-for-10 shooting. If nothing else, perhaps this bodes well for him in Game 3 because he played 17 minutes, mostly in the fourth.
Kevin Huerter and John Collins combined for just 19 points with Clint Capela chipping in just two. He and Collins tied for eight rebounds as the Hawks finished minus-13 on the glass.
As the attention turns to Game 2, let’s focus on three critical adjustments they need to make.