Antetokounmpo missed the triple-double by … points but guided Bucks to victory over Hawks in Atlanta

The Bucks learned another good lesson early Thursday (12/1) when they lost a 24-point lead (74-50) and… needed the win in Atlanta against the Hawks (114-105) in the finals). Giannis Antetokounmpo had one of the oddest games of his career when he missed a triple-double by hitting in single digits, but he got the job done with Jrue Holiday and Brook Lopez ahead of the game in Miami.

Milwaukee went up 27-14 (16-5 home and 11-9 away), with the Greek Freak limited to seven points but filling his stats with 18 rebounds and 10 assists in a performance that speaks volumes about how he did it thinks time. His team could and should have cleaned up the game more comfortably, but in the end they achieved their goal and will keep it as they face the heat in Miami in a few hours and they have to play again on Saturday night at the stadium at 8:00 p.m.

Atlanta fell to 19-22 (11-9 home and 8-13 a) with Nate McMillan having Trae Young and Clint Capela unavailable and seeing his players on a different field in the first half but should be content with that effort and stubbornness they showed in the second. Bogdan Bogdanovic was the one who believed in the turn the most and gave life to the field, but his team didn’t have a second consistent scorer at the critical points and didn’t pull off the mini-miracle.

As I said, the next opponent for the Milwaukee Bucks is the Heat in Miami, in a few hours, in the early hours of Friday (1/13) at 2:30 a.m.

Antetokounmpo’s account

He scored the first basket of the game and followed it up with two assists on a Connaughton-Holliday 3-pointer, all in just under two minutes. He finished the period on 4/6/4, finished the halftime on 5/9/4 and never had to hit the turbo, which felt like a small win for the Bucks. He remained top scorer, was great creatively, struggled with fouls towards the end and eventually missed a triple-double by holding just seven points.

It was his worst performance since January 28, 2016 and an away game against the Grizzlies. He had a lower usage rate than Connaughton, Lopez, Portis, Beauchamp and Ingles. It will be interesting to see if he will be available in a few hours in the match against the Heat, who are dying to win.

7 points
3/10 two points
1/4 shots
18 setbacks
10 assists
1 block
1 mistake
5 fouls
5 earned fouls
+15 to +/-
15.8 USG%
at 34:57

46-42 points on bat, 21-10 points on surprise, 54-44 points from substitutes, 19-16 points from opponent’s mistakes (the Bucks made two in the first half and eight in the second ) , 7 -17 points from second chances.

The race

After Antetokounmpo scored the first basket and scored two threes for Connaughton – Holiday, the Bucks went into the game with a lead (0-11 in 2 minutes). They had a good lead until the middle of the third (13-29 in 8′) when Giannis was at triple-double pace (4/4/3) who finished twelve minutes at +20 (19-39) and made it nine three-pointers, with six players having at least one each. 11 assists for one error when the hosts didn’t have the shot.

The Hawks gnawed at the difference early in the second period (33-46) with Bogdanovic in the role of moderator, but a Holliday, a Portis shot at them to reduce their lead (41-57 at 21′). and not pressuring the Bucks. After a while, Budenholzer saw his players having fun and Atlanta’s 46:67 half-time lead didn’t seem to tip over easily. The visitors shot 50% from threes (12/24), had two penalties and only four fouls and didn’t have the slightest difficulty in defense or attack.

The Bucks went into the second half without Grayson Allen, who twisted his ankle, but the difference grew (50-74 at 27′) as the home side didn’t have much to offer. In the middle of the third, however, they reduced the lead to 14 (64:78), took advantage of their opponents’ many misses and went back into the game with their own 15:2 run. The crowd was motivated, the youngsters and Bogdanovic wanted to take the lead and 82-89 after twelve minutes was just what they needed to pull off a big win as Milwaukee hit 2 of 14 trebles over that period.

The Bucks’ +24 (50-74) became +1 (94-95) early in the fourth quarter, with Frank Kaminski (!) scoring with a burst and Giannis being charged with his fifth foul at 43′. Collins leveled the game at 101-101 with a layup from Bogdanovic to give his team the first lead before the Bucks responded with an unlikely 103-111 103-111 lead.

THE DODECALPTA: 19-39, 46-67, 82-89, 105-114

Atlantic hawks (Nate McMillan): Hunter 16 (4/14 shooting, 9 rebounds, 2 assists), Collins 15 (1 3-pointer, 7 rebounds), Okongu 7 (9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks), Holiday 4, Murray 9 (4/16 shots, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers), Bogdanovic 22 (6/10 2-pointers, 3/8 3-pointers, 1/2 shots, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals) , Johnson 12 (1) , Kaminski 13 (3/4 3-pointers), Griffin 7 (1)

MILWAUKEE BUCKS (Mike Budenholzer): Connaughton 10 (2/10 3-pointers, 7 rebounds), Antetokounmpo 7 (3/10 2-pointers, 1/4 shots, 18 rebounds, 10 assists, 1 block, 1 error, 5 fouls in 34 :57), Lopez 20 (4/7 2-pointers, 4/6 3-pointers, 12 rebounds, 2 blocks), Allen 6 (3/4 2-pointers, 2 rebounds, 2 assists), Holiday 27 (7/ 13 2-pointers, 3/8 3-pointers, 4/4 shots, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 5 layups), Beauchamp 8 (2/7 3-pointers, 4 assists), Portis 13 (5/9 2-pointers, 1/2 3-pointers, 10 rebounds), Carter 13 (4/7 3-pointers), Ingles 7 (1 3-pointers, 5 assists), Green 3 (1)

Atlanta Hawks team stats: 28/57 2-pointers, 11/30 3-pointers, 16/18 shots, 46 rebounds, 25 assists, 5 steals, 3 blocks, 11 turnovers, 12 fouls

Milwaukee Bucks team stats: 27/50 2-pointers, 18/48 3-pointers, 6/11 shots, 62 rebounds, 28 assists, 6 steals, 4 blocks, 10 turnovers, 15 fouls