In a 107-77 shellacking, the Milwaukee Bucks shocked the Atlanta Hawks, who had won 14 out of 15 coming into the game, and matched last season’s win total of 15, which was a franchise-low.
Rookie power forward Johnny O'Bryant III set the tone early, as he scored eight out of the first 12 points and was a closely-contested, competitive first quarter, as both teams tied the game several times. Towards the end of the period, Atlanta only hit three out of their last thirteen shots, and Milwaukee made two late threes to take a 24-22 lead to close out the first.
The Bucks went on 16-3 run to open up the second and took a 40-25 advantage with Jared Dudley scoring fifteen points on 6-of-6 shooting. Atlanta struggled to hit anything, and the Bucks put the pedal down, opening up a 51-35 game. At this juncture in the game, Milwaukee's bench outscored Atlanta's bench, 29-7, and 20-3 in the second quarter alone. Heading into the break, the Bucks were up, 58-42, as they had moved the ball well, registering 13 assists and scoring 15 points off turnovers.
It was more of the same in the third, as Milwaukee increased its lead to 25 points, 77-52, after hitting their eighth three of the game. No matter what Atlanta did, the Bucks were simply outplaying the Hawks in every facet and held a 20-plus lead throughout the fourth en route to a blowout win.
Dudley concluded with a season-high of 24 points including four 3-pointers on 10-of-10 shooting, which is the most field goals without a miss this year. The only other player to shoot 10-of-10 this season was Jarrett Jack of the Brooklyn Nets. Besides Dudley, five other players scored in double figures. Starting point guard Brandon Knight had 16 to go with five rebounds and three assists, while Jerryd Bayless came off the bench with 12 points, and O.J. Mayo added 11. The high man for Atlanta was Paul Millsap, who had a double-double of 22 points and 11 rebounds.
Atlanta will get a shot at redemption tomorrow, as they travel to Milwaukee to take on the Bucks at the BMO Harris Bradley Center in the second game of a back-to-back series.