Milwaukee vs. Atlanta: Bucks Cruise To 30th Victory

The Milwaukee Bucks picked up their 30th victory of the season on Sunday afternoon with a 133-114 shellacking of the Atlanta Hawks at the State Farm Arena. Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer got the last laugh in his first game back in Atlanta since taking the helm in Milwaukee. Here are Bucks who impressed in Milwaukee’s commanding victory in the ATL.

Giannis Antetokounmpo was in control all afternoon.

From gyro-stepping in the lane to knocking down turnaround jumpers, the Greek Freak put up an all-time clinic against a Hawks defense that simply had no answers for him defensively. He dropped 33 points on 9-of-17 shooting and also hit 14-of-19 shots from the charity stripe. Giannis was very confident in his jump shot yesterday and was letting them fly without hesitation. The Hawks are a perfect team to practice your jumper against. Aside from scoring in an array of ways, he also chipped in 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and one blocked shot in 31 minutes. Just your casual 33/6/4/3/1 line in only 31 minutes. Lol.

Eric Bledsoe was attacking the Hawks at will.

Rookie Trae Young had trouble defending Bledsoe the last time these two teams met, and that trend continued on Sunday afternoon. Eric dropped 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting and he did most of the damage weaving through the paint. From the opening tip, he was aggressive with his drives to the basket and Young had no answer for him defensively. Bledsoe is strong. However, what I think is most impressive about his stat line is that he dished out 10 assists and did not commit a turnover. He did his damage in only 26 minutes of play. We know Bledsoe is lightning in a bottle offensively, but the Bucks are at their best when he’s facilitating and taking care of the basketball.

D.J. Wilson played some solid basketball in 17 minutes.

He finished with 8 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks while hitting 3-of-3 shots. Wilson also connected on both of his three-point attempts, one of which was a nice step-back three off the dribble in the corner...it was a beauty. He was also setting solid screens and catching lobs around the rim off of pick and rolls. Not only was he reliable offensively, but he was also just as impressive on the defensive end. Game by game, he’s proving that he can be a serviceable perimeter defender in the NBA. His increased production is a small sample size, but he’s starting to force coach Bud’s hand to play him a bit more lately (when healthy). Wilson finished plus-13 yesterday.

For the Atlanta Hawks, they were led by rookie Trae Young who notched 26 points and hauled in 10 rebounds (3 offensive) in 34 minutes. DeAndre’ Bembry scored 18 points and John Collins was quiet with only 13 points.

Bonus Bucks

• Khris Middleton scored 17 points to go with 11 rebounds and 4 assists in 28 minutes. He looked to do most of his work in the paint, but at times would force up heavily contested floaters. He needed 19 shots to score 17 points and only attempted two three-pointers...interesting.
• Malcolm Brogdon didn’t shoot the ball particularly well (5-of-13), but did tally 14 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. He’s now scored double figures in twelve straight games,

Yes, I spelled Malcolm Brogdon’s name wrong in the poll. It’s just his twin Oscar from The Office :)

• Brook Lopez fouled out and only scored 9 points in yesterday’s win. A few of those fouls called against him were highly questionable, and he even got T’d up.
• The Milwaukee Bucks got slaughtered on the rebounds by a wide margin (54-39). The Hawks even hauled in 18 offensive rebounds which is astounding. The Bucks just weren’t aggressive enough on the glass.
• The Bucks held Atlanta to 40.6 percent shooting and 31.6 percent from three.