Bucks 122, Hawks 117: Antetokounmpo, Middleton take control

For a night, a little taste of March Madness paid a visit to the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

On one side you had the Atlanta Hawks, playing the role of the plucky underdog armed with a hot scorer and an unwillingness to say die. On the other side were the Milwaukee Bucks, the heavy home favorite who, as much as they tried, couldn't put the Hawks away.

The game went down to the final minutes, but there would be no buzzer-beater or Cinderella ending. When it mattered most, the Bucks seized control and came away a 122-117 victory Saturday.

"We just trust one another and we focused on our strengths," Bucks all-star Giannis Antetokounmpo said. "Then we were able to make some shots and then get multiple stops in a row."

Antetokounmpo led the Bucks throughout the night with 33 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. Khris Middleton bounced back from a slow start to pour in 20 of his 23 points in the second half.

The Bucks needed both of their contributions — and more — to pull out the win.

BOX SCORE: Bucks 122, Hawks 117

Milwaukee, which dug itself into an 11-point, first-quarter hole, turned things all the way around to build an advantage as large as 13 in the third quarter. But the Bucks kept leaving the door open and the Hawks refused to go away.

“For us, sometimes we are in the right position, we just give dare shots where we don’t get our hands up and contest," Bucks coach Joe Prunty said. "We know we’ve got to get out and contest them, but at the same time it can’t be at the cost of just giving a straight line drive.”

The Hawks slowly chipped away early in the fourth before one possession turned a comfortable Milwaukee margin into a tight game.

It all started when Hawks rookie John Collins put up a three-pointer that was off the mark. However, on his descent Collins landed on Antetokounmpo's foot, resulting in a sprained left ankle for Collins. Antetokounmpo was assessed a flagrant-1 foul following a review, and after making all three free throws Collins left the game and did not return.

“I tried to close out, not to touch and give him a little bit of space because we want him to shoot that shot," Antetokounmpo said. "He landed on my foot — I didn’t feel it that he landed on my foot. Now they say the call when someone lands on your foot is a flagrant-1. I didn’t do it on purpose, I didn’t know that he sprained his ankle. I hope he’s doing well and he can get back healthy.”

Taurean Prince, who tied his career high with 38 points, followed the free throws with a layup to bring the Hawks within two. Atlanta took a one-point lead on an and-one by point guard Dennis Schroder shortly after with just under three minutes left.

Then momentum shifted again with another blow of the referee's whistle. One play removed from his nifty layup through an Antetokounmpo foul, Schroder was called for his sixth foul while guarding Eric Bledsoe and also received a technical foul for arguing on his way out.

The Bucks made all three free throws and took a lead they would not relinquish, though it took some clutch plays and a little bit of luck to stay there.

Leading, 114-112, the Bucks ran out on the break. They had struggled in transition for most of the night and this play was no exception as passes ping-ponged from player to player, ultimately landing in the unsuspecting hands of Bledsoe along the baseline. Trapped and with nothing else to do, Bledsoe tossed the ball back inside that Atlanta's Mike Muscala stole, starting a break the other way.

Bucks center John Henson was back, though, and blocked a layup attempt by Isaiah Taylor. Antetokounmpo then got the ball and noticed Bledsoe and Middleton were still at the other end of the court all alone. A heave to Bledsoe and a toss to Middleton resulted in an uncontested dunk, a four-point lead, a Hawks timeout and an eruption of excitement from the sellout crowd.

From there, the Bucks closed things out with staunch defense and clutch shot-making. It wasn't their best effort, especially on defense, but a win's a win.

“We can get a lot better," Antetokounmpo said. "What’d they have, 117 (points)? We can get a lot better. That’s not what we do. … We are really, really good defensively if we want to be. We’ve got to have the mindset coming into the game that we’ve got to play defense so we can win the game and not just offense.”

Following a stretch of four games against sub-.500 teams resulting in a 3-1 record, the Bucks will face a stiff test Monday when they visit the defending Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers on the road on Monday. In that game, Milwaukee's margin for error, especially on defense, will be much smaller.

“We’re not going to give dare shots to Cleveland," Antetokounmpo said. "Just got to do a good job coming in playing the basketball we know because at the end of the day we’ve got to play great basketball from now until the playoffs so we can beat good teams in the playoffs.”

BEHIND THE BOX SCORE

Up and down: Bledsoe played a critical role for the Bucks, finishing with 19 points, including eight in the fourth quarter, while also contributing nine assists, a pair of steals and a block. But there were some notable moments where he wasn’t at his best.

Bledsoe opened the game with a turnover then later in the first quarter, after having a layup blocked by Prince, lagged behind the play. Prince, who ran ahead of him got a pass for an easy layup.

Immediately, Prunty signaled for Brandon Jennings to head to the scorer’s table to check in.

Prunty’s hook was even shorter in the third quarter when Bledsoe committed a pair of careless turnovers in the opening 90 seconds, leading to Jennings checking in at the next dead ball.

Prunty knows how impactful Bledsoe can be, something that was obvious in the second quarter when he and Antetokounmpo successfully ran the pick-and-roll together on multiple possessions and later in the fourth when he collected clutch buckets and stood out defensively, especially when he got switched onto Prince down the stretch. Now the challenge is to get more of that.

“The biggest thing for him is that focus and intensity all the way through,” Prunty said. “He’s proven what he’s capable of doing and we know what he’s capable of doing and we need it just like we do from everybody else.”

Welcome back: Jennings, who played 17 1/2 minutes in relief of Bledsoe, received a warm welcome from the crowd in his first game in Milwaukee wearing a Bucks jersey since 2013. He got off to a slow start got going in the third quarter when he zipped around passes for four of his five assists and executed a deft pass fake that led to a floater for his first and only basket of the night.

Throwdown: The last time the Hawks came to town, Jabari Parker threw down a dunk over both Muscala and Collins. On Saturday night, he took turns slamming down ferocious jams in each of their faces.

Parker, who scored 15 points on 7 of 12 shooting, slammed down doth dunks in the second quarter, starting with one over Muscala.

UP NEXT

Teams: Milwaukee Bucks (37-32) vs. Cleveland Cavaliers (40-29).

When: 6 p.m. Monday.

Where: Quicken Loans Arena.

About the Cavaliers: The new-look Cavaliers, with a roster that was totally overhauled at the trade deadline, have hovered around the .500 mark since the all-star break and hold the No. 3 spot in the Eastern Conference playoff standings. LeBron James has carried the bulk of the load all season, averaging 27.0 points, 9.0 assists, 8.6 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game to keep the Cavaliers afloat. Cleveland has dealt with a rash of injuries recently, including Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, Rodney Hood, Larry Nance Jr. and Cedi Osman all sitting out Saturday's game in Chicago. Kyle Korver also missed the game against the Bulls for personal reasons.