After resting their starting five in Saturday’s game against the Bobcats, the Atlanta Hawks (56-18) starters returned vs the Milwaukee Bucks (36-38). The Hawks won the game 101-88, defeating one of the best defensive teams in the league — With their own game.
Defense was the big for the Hawks, causing the Bucks to commit 5 shot clock violations and kept the team from hitting 90 points. The Hawks played fast and smothered the Bucks when they had the ball.
DeMarre Carroll had 23 points and 8 rebounds as he lead the Hawks in scoring. After a very cold start, missing four three pointers in a row, Kyle Korver scored all of his 11 points in 66 seconds in the 3rd quarter, staring with a two-pointer and knocking off 3 three-pointers in a row.
While the Hawks have already nabbed the top seed in the Eastern Conference, they are still chasing a franchise win record, and are only one win away.
The Hawks however, did have a little trouble shooting throughout the night. Five airballs were counted as multiple Hawks missed open shots by a long run. At the Half, the Hawks were only shooting 39% and finished the game just shooting 45.6%.
The biggest Hawks lead was 16, while the Bucks only led twice, the most by 3 points.
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 18 to lead Milwaukee, while former Hawk Zaza Pachulia had 17 and 13 rebounds.
The only bad news for the Hawks is that point guard Dennis Schroder left the game in the second quarter with a toe injury.
With the Hawks planning to rest the starters on Tuesday against the Pistons, look for Shelvin Mack to see a lot of playing time if Schroder is out.
Hawks playing keep-a-way #hawks
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