Less than 24 hours after pounding them in a 107-77 victory, the Milwaukee Bucks get a re-match against the Atlanta Hawks in the second leg of a home-and-home series.
Though last night's victory was arguably the Bucks best performance--and cause for a little celebration--the team is already eager to put it behind them and focus on the task at hand, writes Charles Gardner of the Journal Sentinel.
"You win tonight, and now we've got to act like it never happened and do it again tomorrow," Knight said. "It's very tough, but that's the NBA. You're going to have situations where you play teams twice in a row. You've got to be professionals and be prepared."
Bucks center Zaza Pachulia, who played eight seasons for the Hawks, received a warm ovation from Atlanta fans on Friday. He had 14 points and eight rebounds in a starting role with Larry Sanders sidelined by illness, and he might be called on to start again Saturday.
"It's like a playoff situation where you play a team back-to-back," Pachulia said. "They're going to make adjustments. We're going to talk about it tomorrow (Saturday) and clean up some things."
In addition to the cold shooting, the Hawks were held to just eight offensive rebounds and had 23 turnovers last night, allowing the Bucks to spring out into transition and kill any chance of a Hawks comeback. Chances are the Hawks aren't going to shoot 41 percent from the field and 17 percent from three again, so Milwaukee will have to again control the rebounding and turnover margin if they want to come away from this series with a sweep.
The Bucks got 63 of their 107 points last night from Jared Dudley (24), Brandon Knight (16), Jerryd Bayless (12) and O.J. Mayo (11) on 23-36 shooting, highlighted by Dudley going 10-for-10 and making NBA history. That shooting clip surely will drop a bit, but count it as another ridiculous mark for the Bucks supporting cast. The Bucks bench averages 44.7 ppg this season, tops in the league. Additionally, that number would be the fourth-highest average EVER in a single-season for a bench unit. The starters will have their issues with a hungry Hawks team, but Milwaukee should again have a big advantage with the reserves, and it may be enough to pull off the sweep.
2014/2015 NBA Season | ||
---|---|---|
vs. | ||
December 27, 2014 | ||
BMO Harris Bradley Center | Milwaukee, WI | ||
7:30 CT | ||
FS Wisconsin | 620 WTMJ | ||
Probable Starters | ||
Jeff Teague | PG | Brandon Knight |
Kyle Korver | SG | Kendall Marshall |
DeMarre Carroll | SF | Giannis Antetokounmpo |
Paul Millsap | PF | Johnny O'Bryant |
Al Horford | C | Zaza Pachulia |
2014/15 Advanced Stats | ||
96.1 (14th) | Pace | 96.6 (11th) |
105.7 (11th) | ORtg | 102.2 (19th) |
101.1 (7th) | DRtg | 102.3 (11th) |
On the Hawks: Peachtree Hoops / Hoopinion / Atlanta Journal Constitution