They like playing basketball, they like having fun, and they
like playing basketball while having fun.
Atlanta defeated Milwaukee 116-113 on Wednesday in Game 1 of
the Eastern Conference finals.
Clint Capela’s putback after a Trae Young miss gave the Hawks
a 112-111 lead with 29.8 seconds left in the game. Young’s four free throws in
the final 17.3 second secured the victory.
Atlanta erased a seven-point deficit in the final four
minutes. As they proved against Philadelphia in the conference semifinals, the
Hawks just keep playing regardless of score.
"Well, again, we've been in this position many
times," Hawks interim coach Nate McMillan said. "Seven-point game is
really a three-possession game. We felt that we know what we need to do. We
need to get stops and we need to execute and score. They did another solid job
of executing down the stretch, again, finding that matchup.
Young scored a playoff career-high 48 points and added 11
assists — the fiftime in his postseason debut he has had at least 25 points and
10 assists. On one made 3-point attempt, he found himself wide open, shimmied
and then made the shot.
Young was 17-for-34 from the field even though he was just
4-of-13 on 3-pointers.
"What I respect about Trae, he's going to always stay
aggressive," McMillan said. "He continued to stay aggressive and take
his shots, and tonight those shots were falling for him. I thought he did a
good job of, again, reading the defense and getting the ball and putting the
ball in the hands of guys who had their matchups."
John Collins added 23 points and 15 rebounds. Collins'
corner 3-pointer with 1:39 left in the fourth help Atlanta steal a game on the
road. Young and Solomon Hill missed 3s on the possession but the Hawks had two
offensive rebounds. Young found Collins. Instead of a four-point game with
Milwaukee able to run time off the clock, Atlanta trimmed the Bucks' lead to
111-110.
The Bucks wasted strong games from Giannis Antetokounmpo (34
points, 12 rebounds and nine assists) and Jrue Holiday (33 points, 10 assists).
"It's not easy," Antetokounmpo said. "It
never gets easy. You don't want to lose. You don't want to be down. But at the
end of the day as I said, you can't get too high. You can't get too low. You've
got to come out, Game 2, got to compete and wish for the best."
Milwaukee had its chances in the final minute of the fourth
quarter. Pat Connaughton missed a 3-pointer with 23.5 seconds left that
would've given Milwaukee a 114-112 lead.
"It was a great look. Great look. Did not fall. Did not
go our way," Antetokounmpo said. "But at the end of the day,
execution-wise, it was great. He was wide open. He had made a bunch of shots
like that before. So make or miss, we live with that."
Middleton missed two shots, one that would've put Milwaukee
up 113-100 and the final shot of the game that would've forced overtime.
"All my shots were short tonight," he said.
"I have to make that adjustment. I've got to be better. Like I said, I've
got to see where my misses are going or the types of shots I'm getting and
adjusting my game, too."
The Hawks’ won their sixth road game of the 2021 NBA
playoffs, including three Game 1s on the road this season — at New York, at
Philadelphia, at Milwaukee.
"I felt we built ourselves to be able to play on the
road," McMillan said. "I've told them that they're built for this.
Whether the Hawks are just too young to understand the
gravity of the moment or they’re just mature enough to embrace it, they are in
this series for the long haul and perhaps beyond.
If there was a hangover from both teams playing in a Game 7
in the conference semifinals, it showed up only on 3-pointers, where both teams
struggled. Neither team shot better than 25% from 3 — a combined 16-for-68.
Game 2 is Friday in Milwaukee (8:30 p.m., TNT)
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