The Bucks looked to win their second road game of the season against a rebuilding Hawks team.
The Bucks starters were:
Malcolm Brogdon
Tony Snell
Khris Middleton
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Thon Maker
The Celtics starters were:
Dennis Schroder
Kent Bazemore
Taurean Prince
Mike Muscala
Dewayne Dedmon
Giannis started the game for the Bucks with a long jumper just inside the arc, and he followed that up with a three in the same spot to help Milwaukee start the game on a 12-2 run (with the first 9 points coming from Giannis). The Hawks were able to stop a little bit of that early bleeding, but the Bucks were still up 16-9 midway through the opening quarter thanks to some solid passing. The Bucks ended the quarter on a nice 14-7 run to stake out a 28-16 lead. Giannis led all scorers with 13 on 6-8 shooting, and Rashad Vaughn was second among all scorers with six points on back-to-back 3s late in the first.
John Henson kicked off the second quarter with a quick layup, and the Bucks didn’t falter as they opened up a swift 40-20 second quarter lead after Rashad Vaughn’s third three-pointer of the game. The Hawks pulled it back just a little bit, but the Bucks were still up 49-30 midway through the second quarter thanks to four 3-pointers from Rashad Vaughn. From there, the game had a real lazy Sunday feel to it as both teams traded baskets but neither team seemed to have any real urgency (which obviously benefitted the Bucks), and despite a late Atlanta push, Milwaukee went into halftime with a big 61-48 lead. Giannis (along with 4 rebounds and 4 assists) and Taurean Prince (along with 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals) led all scorers with 15 points, and Rashad Vaughn was just behind them with 12 points. The Bucks outshot the Hawks 50% to 45%, and outrebounded them 25-16 to win the first half handily.
Malcolm Brogdon kicked off the second half with an early 3 to put Milwaukee up 16, and before long the Bucks found themselves up 77-57 at the midway point. The Bucks didn’t exactly shoot lights-out in the third or anything, but they stifled the Hawks defensively and scored enough points to maintain at least a 15-point lead just about the whole third quarter. They entered the final quarter with a 92-73 lead on the strength of 25 points from Giannis, 20 from Khris Middleton, and 14 from Malcolm Brogdon.
Luke Babbitt started the final quarter for the Hawks with a 3, and before long the Hawks had cut the deficit back to nearly single digits, at 96-85. Luckily, John Henson ended that run with a floater just a step away from the basket, and the Bucks held on to a 100-88 lead midway through the fourth. From there, the Hawks kept fighting and the Bucks started playing a little bit sloppily, but Atlanta could not bring the deficit to single digits, and the Bucks easily secured their first wire-to-wire win of the season by a score of 117-106. Milwaukee outshot Atlanta 54%-47% from the field and 50%-45% from distance, and outrebounded the Hawks 43-31.
Three Big Things
Giannis Antetokounmpo – Giannis started the game with a flash, scoring the first 9 Bucks points (and 9 of the first 11 points scored by either team) and 13 of the first 20 Bucks points, as well as 11 points in 4 minutes. He finished with 33 points on 14-21 shooting, 12 rebounds, and 5 assists. While 33 points is amazingly one of his lower totals of the season, he didn’t need to score all the team’s points since he got a bit of help from his teammates, which is a big reason they won so handily. This game should do nothing to stop Bucks fans from dreaming for a Giannis MVP season.
Rashad Vaughn – Before today’s game, Rashad Vaughn had played 2 and a half minutes with his only log in the statsheet being a missed 3. Today, though, he started the game by making four of his first five 3-pointers, and was the Buck’s second-leading scorer at halftime. Vaughn has seemed poised to be a big role player on the Bucks for about three seasons now to no avail, so if he can replicate this game (specifically, if he can drain multiple 3s a game) a few times he may finally become a Bucks fixture coming off the bench.
John Henson – With Greg Monroe’s surprising inactive status for today’s game, a lot of the slack was picked up by John Henson. Henson only averaged 16 minutes off the bench coming into the game, but he put in a big 28 minutes (a season-high) against the Hawks, in which he scored 12 points on an efficient 5-8 from the field, as well as a statsheet-stuffing 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 3 blocks. He was a terror on the defensive end in the first half, and was a big reason the Hawks found themselves in such a quick deficit.
Plus/Minus Hero
Khris Middleton – Khris Middleton was far and away the plus/minus hero today, with an outstanding +26 in a game where his closest competition was Tony Snell and Giannis at +8 each. Middleton started the game 0-7 from the field, and for a bit it looked like Giannis would have to do it all by himself. Middleton finally found his footing and then some, though, and ended up with a huge 27 points on 9-19 shooting (after only scoring 6 in the first half), as well as 7 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 steals. He showed today that while Brogdon has been consistently good to start the season, Middleton is the team’s true number 2 option, and a very worth plus/minus hero.
The Bucks took care of business today against the Hawks, so tune in at 7:00 PM CT on Tuesday to see if the Bucks can start the season 5-2 against Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony, and the Thunder!