The Atlanta Hawks took a major step in the right direction if they are going to turn this season around after a dreadful 17-25 start. Their 121-114 win over the Milwaukee Bucks snaps a five-game losing streak, a 10-game skid at State Farm Arena, and makes the Hawks 2-0 over the defending champs this season.
Everyone is rightfully talking about Onyeka Okongwu’s stifling defense on Giannis Antetokounmpo down the stretch, including us.
Trae Young also had a phenomenal fourth, dropping 15 points on the strength of 10 free-throw attempts in the frame alone. He finished the game with 30 points (to go with 11 assists) despite shooting just 41.2 percent overall and 2-of-6 from deep.
This game, though, was still all about the defense when all was said and done.
The Atlanta Hawks took full advantage of late turnovers from Milwaukee
Khris Middleton started the fourth quarter off with a bad pass that led to a Kevin Huerter steal and, ultimately, a Lou Williams pull-up that made the score 88-86. The Bucks weren’t done, overcoming another Middleton turnover and stretching the lead back to nine on a pull-up three from the Olympian who had a game-high 34 points.
The Hawks almost squandered away another solid comeback effort thanks to sequences that included three missed attempts and two fouls sandwiched between a pair of turnovers.
Middleton went to the bench in between a couple of Antetokounmpo free throws that got it up to 11 points with 8:47 to go. Then a Grayson Allen technical foul sent Danilo Gallinari to the line where he knocked down the try to bring the deficit back down to 10 points.
That is where it was when Middleton came back into the game.
From there, he would commit four more turnovers including on an offensive foul that led to the Hawks taking their first lead on a Gallinari three at 104-103 with 4:37 remaining. The Bucks would give the ball away two more times, one apiece by Antetoulkounmpo and Middleton, after the latter gave them a brief 105-104 lead, and were outscored 17-9 to run out the clock.
In total, Atlanta had 13 turnovers just as Milwaukee did. But the visiting team got 13 from their top duo with six of their seven if the fourth coming from Middleton alone who had eight total.
Their effort and energy were clear down the stretch as they finished with seven steals; two from Huerter in the fourth. The Hawks also finished the game with 10 loose balls recovered, nearly doubling their season average of 5.4 per game.