Giannis Antetokounmpo's triple-double leads Bucks to 132-121 victory over Hawks
The Milwaukee Bucks outlasted the Atlanta Hawks, 132-121, Saturday night at Fiserv Forum behind Giannis Antetokounmpo's first triple-double of the season and 18 points off the bench from Cam Payne.
Antetokounmpo had 32 points on 14 of 20 shooting and pulled down 11 rebounds, and Malik Beasley (16 points) provided the 10th assist when he knocked down a corner three with just over a minute left. It was Antetokounmpo's 36th career triple-double.
Damian Lillard added 25 points and nine assists for the Bucks, as Bobby Portis (15), Khris Middleton (12) and Brook Lopez (11) also reached double figures in a high-scoring affair.
Atlanta was led by Trae Young (32 points) and Dejounte Murray (30) while Saddiq Bey (17), Bogdan Bogdanović (14) and De'Andre Hunter (12) also reached double figures.
BOX SCORE: Bucks 132, Hawks 121
Bucks, Hawks go on the offensive
The Hawks came into the game as the No. 2 scoring unit in the league at 123.3 points per game and No. 3 in pace (number of possessions in a game) with 103.18. The Bucks are the No. 3 scoring team (120.5) and No. 5 in pace (101.99).
Atlanta throttled Milwaukee, 127-110, at Fiserv Forum back on Oct. 29, the second game of the season, and while the Hawks are an average team (9-9) they have scored 125 or more points eight times. They are 7-1 in those games, their only loss coming at the hands of the Indiana Pacers in a ridiculous 157-152 loss on Nov. 21.
The Bucks, on the other hand, have given up 125 or more on seven occasions and scored 125-plus in seven games also.
As one might expect, both teams lived up to the numbers.
The Bucks scored a season high 42 points in the first quarter on nearly 70% shooting, and the Hawks scored 37. Heading into the game, the Bucks were 7-0 if they scored 30 or more in the opening quarter.
It was 67-63 Milwaukee at the break, which portended good things for the Bucks as they came into the game 13-3 when scoring 50 or more in the first half.
The Bucks kept up the offensive, scoring 65 second half points – but eventually they slowed the Hawks just enough in the fourth quarter. Atlanta scored 35 in the third quarter to trail 99-98 after three, but they scored just 23 in the decisive fourth quarter.
After the Hawks cut it to 112-110 with 6 minutes, 46 seconds left they scored just 8 more points when the game was still in question.
“I think sometimes this group especially, I just think we have an understanding of how to win games when it comes down to it," Lillard said. "It’s a matter of executing and getting stops and getting rebounds and being on the same page. And I think in those moments everything that you need to do well, we start to do well. I think we execute well. We laid on each other.
"And on the defensive end we take accountability for ourselves individually and as a group. Our communication goes up. Our pride on the ball goes up. Our urgency goes up. And that’s what it takes.
"We always say, man, we’ve gotta have that for the rest of the game and of course we need to be better over the course of a game, and I’m sure we will be better over time, but the fact that that’s one of our strengths down the stretch is a good deal.
"Because I think when it comes down to it we’ll be in a lot more close games than we will be in blowout. You just want to find that middle ground a little bit better over the course of the game where it’s not such a dramatic improvement when the game is on the line.”
Meanwhile, the Bucks shot a blistering 59.6% from the floor overall and had a season-high 33 assists. Of the final 18 points, six different players scored.
"That's more sustainable," Lillard said of the ball sharing. "Obviously teams are going to look at who they expect to have the ball in those situations and they're going to try to make it difficult.
"With us knowing that, we've got to be willing to trust and make the next play. The more we do that, the more guys will be in situations where we need them to make a big shot or to make a free throw or to finish a high-low pass, or whatever. Then the better we'll be."
Bucks offset Hawks strengths late
Atlanta came in as a .500 team, but in several ways they were not a good match for Milwaukee. Coming into the game, the Hawks were:
No. 2 in steals (9.2 per game)
No. 3 in offensive rebounds (12.9)
No. 4 in free throw attempts (26.1)
No. 10 in three-point shooting (37.1%)
While Milwaukee has improved to No. 5 in the league in defensive rebounding, the Bucks remained prone to lapses on that end to allow for second chance points (13.9 allowed per game). The Bucks also allowed 15.5 points per game off turnovers, too.
The Bucks commit just under 20 fouls per game, 14th-most in the league. They have gradually defended the three-point line better, but like with their rebounding their effectiveness there ebbed and flowed also.
In the opening 24 minutes of Saturday’s game, Milwaukee did an excellent job on the defensive glass in allowing Atlanta just 2 second-chance points. But, the Hawks did score 10 points off eight Bucks turnovers and shot a sparkling 53.8% (7-for-13) from behind the three-point line to keep it close.
In the second half, however, the Bucks tightened everything up:
The Bucks continued to keep the Hawks from scoring on second-chance points, allowing just seven more when the game was still in question (12 total for the game).
While they turned it over another eight times, they allowed just 8 additional points off them.Griffin: Not sure exactly what we did but we did it great. We switched up some matchups and some coverages and I won’t get into that, but I thought just the players were tremendous tonight on both sides of the ball. It seems to be a theme in the fourth quarter we really buckle down, and that’s important.
Atlanta was 8-for-25 from beyond the three-point line in the second half.Beasley: What we want is tough twos. They got into the game when they made threes, so we forced them back down to Brook (Lopez) and when (Portis) was in we blitzed this time. We made adjustments and the coach did a great job.
The Bucks put the Hawks in the bonus with 5:54 to go, but they only fouled twice after that.Griffin: I think that was huge. Trae had 32 points but we didn’t send him to the free throw line. He had 28 shot attempts. If you told me he was going to get 30 and only 2 free throws and we didn’t foul him and what not on 28 attempts, I think that’s pretty good.
Antetokounmpo smiled when asked if the team can build the defensive momentum from six minutes, to eight, to 12 to 24 and admitted while he'd like that -- he'll take the last minutes of a game for now.
“You cannot stop everything," he said. "You’ve got to be able to live with some of the shots that they’re going to take. But at the end of the day, I feel like down the stretch, always, our effort is there. And that’s all you can ask for.
"As long as you know that your teammates and yourself that in the last six minutes, no matter the outcome of the game, you’re going give everything you have defensively and you’re going trust the game plan and you’re going to give that extra effort for your team, OK.
"There’s sometimes we’re going to be good and sometimes we’re not going to be good. Bad teams usually do not do both. They don’t give effort, and they’re not good at it.
"So, we’re been good. We’ve been good defensively. We’ve changed a lot of thigs. We’re up, we dropped, we blitz, we trap, we do some good stuff.”
5 numbers
9-1 Bucks record at Fiserv Forum this season. Their last loss at home was to Atlanta back on Oct. 29.
Bobby Portis: I think we took a step forward (since the first Atlanta game) but we still have a lot of ways to grow. On the defensive side of the ball we have tremendous room to grow on that side. Good to get a win, especially against a team that kind of spanked us the first time playing them. That’s our only home loss, too. Definitely feels good to get a little revenge, in-season revenge. Just another day in the NBA for real, just another game to keep getting better and find things that can help us.
15 Points for Portis. Through the first 14 games of the season he had averaged 13.1 points per game and reached double figures in all but one of those contests. But over his last five games he had scored double digits just once (5.6 points per game). Portis came out with purpose against Atlanta, scoring 13 first half points on 6 of 8 shooting.
Portis: Juist hoopin’ bro. We’re out there just having fun, stop thinkin’ so much. Just been thinking too much the last couple weeks, what to do, where to go, things like that. Just having fun and being ourselves, that’s the biggest thing. Just go out there and hoop.
20-34 Games in days played for the Bucks following the game vs. the Hawks. The team did not have two consecutive days off since playing Atlanta on Oct. 29. The Bucks also had three back-to-backs in that stretch.
60 Percent of Atlanta’s 63 first-half points generated by Trae Young (20) and Dejounte Murray (18). The dynamic backcourt took 50% of the team’s shots, too, in the opening half. But they were a combined 15-for-25 (including 7-for-11 from behind the three-point line) and combined for eight assists, so it was hard to argue with their ball dominance. The pair finished with 62 points total, which was 51.2% of the Hawks point total for the game. 118-117 All-time series record between Milwaukee and Atlanta, with the advantage swinging to the Bucks with the victory.
Andre Jackson Jr. out with back spasms
Bucks rookie Andre Jackson Jr. was ruled out with lower back spasms before the game.Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin ruled Jackson Jr. out before the game. The rookie had filled in as a starter when Khris Middleton missed games and his role was increasing due to the injuries to Pat Connaughton and Jae Crowder.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Giannis' first triple-double leads Bucks to 132-121 victory over Hawks
