Bucks Beat Hawks and Advance to the N.B.A. Finals

The series was a roller coaster and mostly uncompetitive. The Hawks struck first with a surprising Game 1 win on the road, 116-113. Young scored 48 points. The Bucks, as they did against Kevin Durant and the Nets in the second round, struggled to defend Atlanta on pick-and-rolls. This allowed Young to get into the paint easily and create offense for the Hawks.

In Game 2, Milwaukee thumped Atlanta, 125-91, led by Antetokounmpo’s 25 points in 29 minutes. In the following contest, the Bucks seemed to take control of the series with a 113-102 win, this time with Middleton’s 38 points and 11 rebounds leading the way.

It was in the second half of Game 4 that Antetokounmpo hurt his knee, and the Hawks, taking advantage of the bewildered Bucks, ripped off a blowout of their own to even the best-of-seven series at two games apiece. The win came without Young, raising Atlanta’s hopes that its upstart campaign could carry the Hawks to the franchise’s first finals since 1961.

Antetokounmpo, a two-time Most Valuable Player Award winner and one of the biggest stars in the N.B.A., was in the midst of the best playoff run of his career after a series of disappointing ones. He is averaging 28.2 points, 12.7 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game in the playoffs. While he has struggled shooting from the field and at the free-throw line, he has mostly kept his game where it is most successful: at the rim for dunks, as he did during the regular season. In the postseason, 63.3 percent of Antetokounmpo’s shots have been within 10 feet of the hoop. During the regular season, that number was 62.4 percent.

The Bucks regrouped in Game 5 without him, dominating the Hawks from start to finish to go up 3-2 in the series. Brook Lopez scored a playoff career-high 33 points in the 123-112 win.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/03/sports/basketball/milwaukee-bucks-nba-finals-atlanta-hawks.html