Bucks – Hawks 124-115: Antitokunbo and Milwaukee full for first place and playoffs

Game 67 of the regular season was pretty complicated for the Bucks, who returned to Milwaukee from Oklahoma early in the morning, had a few hours of rest after the game with the Thunder, but are having a really good moon. The champions defeated the Atlanta team, who had won the first two of the regular season, 124-115 against the Hawks in the third and final game at the Fiserv Forum.

Giannis Antetokounbo put in another impressive performance (43 points, 1/5 trebles, 12/17 shots, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 2 errors, 4 fouls in 37:03) with the result that the Bucks went down top went 42-25 (24-12 home and 18-13 away) and continue to chase the best possible placement in the Eastern District, even first place after the Miami Heat’s home loss to the Phoenix Suns. Bobby Portis was magical with 23 points (5/9 two points, 4/8 three points, 1/1 shot, 15 rebounds, 2 blocks), Chris Middleton followed with another 23 points and Milwaukee continued in good shape a month ago the finale of the regular season, a month full of difficult games.

At 31-34 the Hawks (19-13 home and 12-21 away) are in danger of being eliminated from the Play-In Tournament a few months after their appearance in the top ten and Finals of the East. Trey Young was poor in the first half, improving in the second (27 points, 3/9 three points, 11 assists for 2 errors in 36 minutes), but the Atlanta team struggled, stayed relatively close, never came really in danger their opponents. He shot poorly from the periphery, he didn’t have the body to face Antetokunbo, John Collins finished the match with 0/9 shots at 19:19 and somehow the Wizards were starting to think they were catching the Falcons and they were early send would break.

The race

When John took two fouls from Capella in the first three minutes and then mercilessly nailed them into the Hawks basket over and over again, the Bucks found the energy they needed early in the game. Portis made it 15-10 with a foul in the fourth minute, Antetokunbo took foul after foul and saved the shots (22-12 in 7′), while Javon Carter did a great job on the ball in defense and Trey Young , but also helped with scoring (corner shot for 30-17) with Greek Freak, who – like last night in Oklahoma – hit a three-pointer for 37-26 at the end of the season and got the 17 points.

The evening went well for the hosts, who advanced 7-0 into the second period, scored 44-26 in two minutes and shot the difference to 18 (44-26). Herter did a good job with the peripherals to reduce the deficit to eight (53-45) when the Bucks needed Middleton, and indeed the experienced peripheral came forward and made back-to-back baskets to keep the Hawks at a distance before Portis scored another three points for 59-45 and sets a fourth for 62-45 in Apotheosis! The Bucks center got 19 points, which Antetokunbo also had, and with Middleton placing 13 on the period, Milwaukee finished the first part at +14 against Trey Young with seven points and John Collins with 0/7 shots.

Antetokunbo went into the second half with two fouls (one completed) to prevent Yang’s outburst from taking the game to level, and scored nine points in four minutes to go 28 and make it an 81-68 fall. She had overcome the difficulties, reduced to five (91-86) and just before the third twelve minutes she was interested in a game that had a protagonist and a teammate in the first half.

Antitokunbo and Holidayi correctly distributed the ball to Allen and Nuora for 106-96 at 7:58 before the final, but the Hawks again didn’t panic. Young scored a three-pointer from distance for 111-105, but Holiday scored the deciding one for 118-109 after Budenholzer timed out and Giannis cleared in the two minutes and clinched a cap from Capella for 120-112.

THE TWELVE MINUTES: 37-26, 68-54, 93-86, 124-115

MILGUOKI BUKS (Mike Budenholzer): Middleton 23 (7/11 two points, 2/6 three points, 3/3 shots, 3 rebounds, 8 assists), Antitokunbo 43 (14/17 two points, 1/5 three points, 12/17 Shots, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal), Portis 23 (5/9 two points, 4/8 three points, 1/1 shot, 15 rebounds, 2 blocks), Allen 11 (3/7 three points, 5 rebounds ). , 3 assists), Holiday 11 (4/13 two points, 1/4 three points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals), Carter 3 (1), Ibaka 2 (5 rebounds, 2 steals), Matthews 4, Nuora 4, Babri

ATLANTA CROUCH (Nate McMillan): Hunter 17 (6/8 two points, 1/3 three points, 2/2 shots), Collins 2 (0/9 shots, 5 rebounds), Caps 11 (5/5 two points, 1/5 shots, 9 rebounds), Herter 16 (4/7 three points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists), Young 27 (5/6 two points, 3/9 three points, 8/8 shots, 3 rebounds, 11 assists), Galinari 14 (2), Okongu 13 (5/7 two points, 3/3 shots, 5 rebounds), Bogdanovic 9 (1/8 three points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists), Wright, Williams 6 (3/3 two points) , Johnson

Milwaukee Bucks team stats: 35/59 two points, 12/35 three points, 18/23 shots, 52 rebounds, 24 assists, 7 steals, 2 blocks, 8 errors, 19 fouls

Atlanta Hawks team stats: 32/48 two points, 11/38 three points, 18/22 shots, 47 rebounds, 26 assists, 6 steals, 3 blocks, 9 errors, 20 fouls