Hawks 114, Bucks 110: Atlanta roars back

They never saw it coming.

The Milwaukee Bucks sprinted to a 20-point halftime lead and could smell a big victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

Instead, the Hawks dominated the second half to rally for a 114-110 victory before a stunned BMO Harris Bradley Center crowd of 16,289 on Friday night.

Also stunned were some of the Bucks players, who had been playing well and had a chance to close out the home stand with a 3-1 record. Instead, they fell to 2-2 with the disappointing defeat.

"It just can't happen," said Bucks center Greg Monroe. "Just a total letdown, both ends. I can't even point to one thing.

"Especially at home, you're up by 20 in the first half. It just can't happen."

But it did as the Bucks gave up 70 points in the second half, including a 40-point third quarter.

Point guard Dennis Schroder led the Hawks with a career-high 33 points and Paul Millsap added 23 for Atlanta (12-12), which beat Milwaukee for the second time this season. Tim Hardaway Jr. had 18 points and sank a clutch three-pointer to give the Hawks a 110-106 lead with 35.6 seconds left.

"For them to score 70 in a half, that's not what we've done in the last two weeks," Bucks coach Jason Kidd said. "Being up 20 doesn't mean the game is over, and this is a good lesson for us."

BOX SCORE: Hawks 114, Bucks 110

Jabari Parker paced the Bucks (11-10) with 27 points, while Michael Beasley, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Monroe each had 14. But Antetokounmpo was in foul trouble all night and never got in a groove. He had six rebounds but just one assist.

"Foul trouble has bothered him and he has to learn how to play with fouls," Kidd said. "We tried to play him with four fouls as long as we could. We've got to look at some of the fouls he's committing."

Parker was 11 for 24 from the field, including 3 of 7 from three-point range. His triple gave Milwaukee a 106-105 lead before Schroder drove for the go-ahead basket with 1:07 left.

"The ball has to move," Kidd said. "When the ball sticks, we're just as bad as anyone. Our defense as a whole was bad. We play (Saturday) against another team that's going to try to score a lot of points (Washington). So we've got another chance to try to slow someone down."

Monroe said the Bucks did not pay attention to detail in the second half.

"We just relaxed, basically," Monroe said. "We did what we had to do in the first half to get the lead. But if you relax against any team in the NBA, especially a team like that, it goes bad."

Kidd said the Bucks have to learn from situations like this. The Bucks bench again played well, outscoring the Hawks reserves, 49-22. But Milwaukee's starters were outscored by the Hawks' first five, 92-61.

"You got to go through it. That's the way we learn, go through it," Kidd said. "There's no magic; I'm not a magician. Everyone in the locker room has to go through it and learn how to play with fouls and understand it's about wins. It's not about stats. So once we get to that level, we'll be pretty good."

The Bucks took a seven-point lead after the first quarter and kept up the pace in the second quarter.

Milwaukee outscored the Hawks, 34-21, in the quarter to grab a 64-44 halftime lead.

The four Bucks reserves combined for 29 points in the half, including nine by Jason Terry on 3-for-4 shooting from three-point range.

A steal and dunk by Monroe caught Dwight Howard flat-footed and gave the Hawks center a seat on the bench for the last 10 minutes of the half. But Howard made some big plays down the stretch, including blocking a shot by Matthew Dellavedova. Howard finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.

The Bucks hit 28 of 49 shots in the half (57.1%) and they limited the Hawks to 17 of 43 (39.5%).

Atlanta roared back with a 40-point third quarter to cut the Bucks’ lead to 92-84.

A four-point play by Hardaway cut Milwaukee’s lead to 88-81 and Hardaway later hit a three-pointer as Atlanta made its run.

Beasley fouled out with 8:24 remaining as he tried to stop Howard near the rim, and the Atlanta center made two foul shots to cut the Bucks' lead to 96-90.

A three-pointer by Malcolm Brogdon gave the Bucks a nine-point lead, but the Hawks scored the next seven points. Tony Snell hit a three from the corner before Howard scored on an offensive rebound to cut the deficit to 102-99.

A layup by Millsap tied the score at 103 before Kyle Korver sank a long two-pointer from the wing to give the Hawks the lead with 3:15 left.

THREE TAKEAWAYS

1. Schroder had 17 points in the first quarter to start a big night. He drove to the basket with ease and also went 2 for 4 from three-point range in the quarter. He finished 4 of 7 from three-point distance. "He was good tonight," Kidd said. "He's worked extremely hard on his jump shot so he got going from beyond the arc, and getting the ball in the paint. We've got to do a better job."

2. Antetokounmpo was called for a questionable charge early in the second quarter. That was his second foul but about 2 minutes later he picked up his third and had to go to the bench for the last 7 minutes of the half. He reached over a player off a tipped jump ball, an unnecessary foul. His fifth foul came with 6:27 left in the game and he stayed on the bench until 3:15 remained in the fourth quarter, after Atlanta took a three-point lead.

3. Dellavedova and Brogdon played effectively in tandem at the end of the second quarter as the Bucks extended their lead to 20 points at halftime. Brogdon finished with 12 points and Dellavedova 11.

UP NEXT

Teams: Milwaukee Bucks (11-10) vs. Washington Wizards (8-13).

When: 6 p.m. Saturday.

Where: Verizon Center.

About the Wizards: Washington rallied from a 14-point first-half deficit to beat the Denver Nuggets, 92-85, on Thursday. Bradley Beal had 26 points and five assists to lead the Wizards, who improved to 6-6 at home. The Wizards average 15.3 second-chance points, ranking fifth in the league.