Rivers, Beverley, Middleton and Giannis speak on Bucks’ win over Hawks
Rivers, Beverley, Middleton and Giannis speak on Bucks’ 122-113 victory over the Hawks on March 30, 2024.
ATLANTA – The Milwaukee Bucks got back on the winning track Saturday night against the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena, nearly leading wire-to-wire in a 122-113 victory.
The road win for Milwaukee (47-27) gave the Bucks a three-game lead in the loss column on Cleveland for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference with eight games remaining. The Bucks head to Washington to take on the Wizards on Tuesday. The victory also snapped a four-game winning streak for Atlanta (34-40).
Box score: Bucks 122, Hawks 113
“Total team effort,” Bucks forward Bobby Portis said. “It was great to get a win. Really needed it for sure after the last two games. So, got the taste out of our mouth. Got a couple days off, go to D.C. and hopefully get another one.”
Without all-star point guard Damian Lillard, the Bucks leaned on Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton and the Hawks had no answers for either. Middleton scored a dozen of his 21 points in the first quarter, as the three-time all-star set an early tone and flipped an early six-point deficit to a 33-28 lead after the first quarter.
“Just wanted to come out aggressive,” Middleton said of the start. “I was able to get to my spots with good balance, so I had to let it go. I felt great. The shots that I hit felt great, so I wanted to keep being aggressive. As the game went on they started to take stuff away so go to different actions, continue to play the game and let the game come to me.”
The Bucks never relinquished that advantage, and Antetokounmpo helped the Bucks build a 21-point lead by scoring 25 of his 36 points in the second and third quarters. He had 16 in the third quarter on 6-of-9 shooting and four free throws.
But, as the Bucks have been apt to do, the offense stagnated and Hawks got back into it.
Atlanta began the fourth quarter on a 15-5 run to cut an 89-74 deficit to 94-89 in the first few minutes. Milwaukee built the lead back to 109-97 following an Antetokounmpo three-point play, but the Bucks could not slow Hawks forward Bogdan Bogdanović.
Bogdanović scored 17 of his 38 points in the fourth quarter to keep the Hawks connected at 111-103 until Antetokounmpo made a layup and Middleton drew a charge on Dejounte Murray, which set up a Malik Beasley three-pointer and gave the Bucks a 13-point lead with under two minutes to go. Bogdanović helped cut that lead back to seven with 29 seconds left, but Atlanta ultimately ran out of time.
Bogdanović added a career-high 10 rebounds.
Pat Beverley started for Lillard, and despite a torn ligament in his right wrist, the veteran point guard scored 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting and handed out five assists. It was his first game in double figures since March 4 and his season-high point total with Milwaukee. He scored 26 for Philadelphia on Dec. 1.
“I mean, if you watched me in Philly when guys didn’t play I kind of stepped up to the plate, I did a little bit of everything – scoring, passing, defending,” Beverley said. “This is the same situation. Obviously I know my role on this team and that’s to be a defender and come in and try to make plays and spot up. But, obviously when you got a player like Dame out it’s kind of hard to give you that 30 (points). But I can give you a 30 another way. I can get 18, I can get five dimes, I can get a couple extra possessions, I get a block, a steal, next thing you know it’s twenty-seven, -eight, -nine points.”
Beasley helped make Murray work, as the star guard scored 20 points on 19 shots, while De’Andre Hunter had 13 points for the Hawks.
Antetokounmpo added 16 rebounds and eight assists while Middleton had six assists and six rebounds.
Bucks lean into their big men against smaller Hawks
Since Doc Rivers took over the Bucks, he has implored his ball handlers to pass immediately into the post when one of the big men has a size advantage inside. They were going to have that all day against the Hawks, whose tallest player was 6-foot-10-inch Clint Capela – and he wasn’t going to play all 48 minutes against the 7-foot duo of Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez, along with the 6-10 Portis.
“We believed that we had the advantage and I think we used it throughout the whole game,” Antetokounmpo said.
On Milwaukee’s first possession, Antetokounmpo found Lopez near the rim – and the result was two free throws.
“If there’s a small on Brook, you’ve got to take advantage of that,” Antetokounmpo said. “I don’t think we have plays that we can get him to the post, but like, through the flow of the offense, early seals, when he runs early, run to the dunker and then he’s always available. When you try to play one-on-one he’s always there to give you an outlet. I think he does a great job of knowing when to kind of present himself.”
Lopez, who often is a floor spacer now, made his presence known inside (13 points) with traditional post-ups and six free throws. Antetokounmpo kept pressure on the rim with offensive attacks from the top of the offense. Portis, also not shy about taking threes, also did most of his work inside in scoring 13 points on 6 of 8 shooting from two-point range.
“To continue it and keep looking for it and don’t get tired of throwing the ball to the post. I bet we said that a hundred times tonight,” Rivers said. “OK, we got a big guy sitting in the middle of the paint, throw it to him. And if they trap, throw it back out and let’s get a three. I think guys don’t understand, in and out basketball doesn’t have to be with a drive – it can be with a post-to-out. I thought we did that more tonight.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo forces way to free throw line vs. Hawks
Scoring has been down around the league since the all-star break, and teams have noticed officials are letting them play more physical defense. It’s a change the Bucks have embraced, especially with a bigger team that lacks the quickness some younger, smaller opponents. But that change has also affected the Bucks offense in that Antetokounmpo and Lillard feel they haven’t gotten to the free throw line as often.
The numbers don’t necessarily bear that out for Antetokounmpo, but he entered Saturday with seven games with nine or fewer attempts since the league restarted after the all-star break Feb. 23.
Three of those came in consecutive games from March 21-26 before he went 5-for-11 against New Orleans on Thursday.
Antetokounmpo was 12-for-27 (44%) from the line in his last four games before playing the Hawks.
“I’m not making my free throws and I think the reason is I’m not getting to the line enough,” Antetokounmpo said after the game in New Orleans. “The more I get in the line, the more comfortable I get, the more I shoot, the more I feel it, the more I can repeat the feeling. Just gotta figure ways because I love when I’m able to get to the free throw line and that’s when I can help my team. If I can get to the free throw line eight to 10 times a game I feel good. I can create fouls, I can create a lot of trouble. I’m just going to keep on forcing the issue and trying to get there.”
He did exactly that against the Hawks.
Antetokounmpo attempted 16 free throws and he did find a rhythm, too, making 12. But he also didn’t get some calls, even as he drew contact and hit the court a couple of times. Antetokounmpo finished the day 12 of 22 shooting.
“You get more comfortable, man,” Antetokounmpo said of his performance at the line against Atlanta. “The more you shoot the more comfortable you get. With missing, with making, with getting there you just get more comfortable. I think I’ve said it, the hardest part is to get there. Not to make them. The hardest part is to get to the free throw line, so I’m just trying to get there as much as I can.”
In 54 games before the all-star break, Antetokounmpo averaged 10.9 free throw attempts a game, making 65.3% of them. He had 24 games of nine attempts or fewer.
Coming into the game against Atlanta, he had averaged 10.7 per game in 14 games after the break, making 67.3% of them. Not only did Antetokounmpo shoot 16 free throws, but Lopez added six, which was tied for the second-most he’s had in a game this season.
“If you go back to the Oklahoma (City) game (on March 24), and we talked about it in shootaround, I think we had nine or 11 bigs down low – we’ve had two since,” Rivers said of the post presence against Atlanta. “So if you want to know why you don’t go to the free throw line as a group, well, no one’s in the paint. Tonight we drove the ball in the paint, we posted the ball in the paint and we got fouled. And we got to the line. What it does, especially against a team like Atlanta, it allows you to set your defense. Because you don’t want to play the Speed Racer game against them because that’s what they do. But us getting to the line allowed us to use our size and then us to be able to put our hands on ’em on defense.”
Lillard has felt the effects of a changed whistle even more, averaging 7.6 trips to the line before the break (51 games) and just 4.6 in the 17 games he’s played after the break.
But the decline in calls he’s gotten began much earlier – beginning specifically in Rivers’ first game as head coach on Jan. 29 in Denver.
In the 25 games he’s played, Lillard has gone to the line 4.7 times per game and has just one game when he’s attempted 10 or more free throws (March 4). In the 43 games prior to Rivers taking over, Lillard averaged 8.1 free throws and topped 10 on 18 occasions.
Did you notice? Bobby Portis throws down lob dunk from Khris Middleton
Portis, Middleton and Giannis react to Portis’ first lob dunk with Bucks
Bobby Portis, Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo react to Portis’ first lob dunk in Bucks career vs. Hawks on March 30, 2024.
With 3 minutes 53 seconds left in the first quarter Portis finally got one.
Middleton drove down the center of the lane and lofted his patented one-handed lob – which often finds Antetokounmpo skying above the rim – but this time it was Portis ready to catch and slam with his right hand.
“It felt great man,” Portis said with a big smile. “Actually I slipped out of the pick-and-roll and most of the time Khris doesn’t hit the pocket when you’re in the middle of the lane, he throws it to the rim. And actually when it hit my hand I was like, well, I’m gonna try to dunk this one. Dunked it and it felt good. And then right after I dunked it Khris hit me with the ‘OK ‘BP!’ So I was like, yeah, I kind of surprised myself a little bit.”
Portis had joked after a mid-March practice that he had only one lob dunk attempt in his Bucks career and he missed it. Beverley had tried him, but the ball didn’t go down.
“It came out,” Portis said incredulously after a March 16 practice. “Like, what’s the odds? Like, really, what’s the odds of that happening? What’s the odds of me missing that? I don’t remember me catching one the first three years. It’s a crazy stat. Oh-for-one. Zero percent.”
He got another chance against Oklahoma City on March 24 from Andre Jackson Jr. and missed that one, too.
This time he cashed in emphatically from the best lob passer on the team.
“He caught me off guard. I threw him one a couple games ago, I think it went off his fingertips and I wasn’t too happy about the pass. This time I told him I just had to put it to a spot where I thought he was going to come down with it. He flushed it and it was nice. It was nice. Happy to be part of his first lob here, first one in a couple years for him for sure.”
5 numbers in Bucks vs. Hawks
1-5 Bucks record without Damian Lillard this season.
Rivers: “They had to (step up). It’s tough because Dame’s a point guard, so you take the ball out of his hands, you put it in Giannis’ hands, you put it in Pat Beverley’s hands, Pat Connaughton to run your offense. Khris Middleton. They all did a good job.”
18-19 Bucks’ road record this season. Milwaukee and Orlando (17-19) are the only playoff teams under .500 on the road. The other 10 teams in the top six of each conference have winning records on the road.
36-15 Points and rebounds for Giannis Antetokounmpo, who recorded his 28th game of at least 30 points and 10 rebounds, which moved him past Adrian Dantley (1981-82) for the second most in a single season. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had a record 30 games in the Bucks’ 1970-71 title season.
761 Made two-point field goals on the season by Antetokounmpo, the most of his career. It also moved him past Terry Cummings (759 in 1984-85) for eighth-most in a single season in Bucks history. Abdul-Jabbar holds the franchise record with 1,159, set in 1971-72.
900 Steals for Antetokounmpo after he picked off the Hawks three times, making him the second Bucks player to reach that number. He trails only franchise leader Quinn Buckner (1,042).
Damian Lillard ruled out for personal reasons
Lillard, the Bucks’ all-star point guard, had a tough game on Thursday night in New Orleans, as he was kneed in the calf in the first half and then required stitches in his lower lip in the third quarter. Then, he was ruled out Saturday for personal reasons and was not with the team in Atlanta.
Rivers said there is a chance Lillard misses the rest of the road trip, as the team heads to Washington to face the Wizards on Tuesday before returning to Milwaukee on Wednesday to play Memphis.
Lillard missed the Bucks’ Jan. 8 game against Utah for personal reasons, also.
Saturday was just the sixth game Lillard has missed this season and his first since Feb. 8.
“Just miss the ‘when you need a bucket,’ you have Dame,” Rivers said before the game. “Also just running the team at times. It shortens your rotation again. Khris (Middleton) is still on a semi-minute restriction, even though we’ve ignored it a couple times. Just shortens your rotation.”
Daniel Miller is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. His coverage spans from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis for sports enthusiasts.
