The No. 5 seed Hawks overcame star guard Trae Young’s absence to beat the No. 3 seed Bucks, 110-88, in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals Tuesday at State Farm Arena.
The series is tied 2-2, with Game 5 coming at 8:30 p.m. Thursday in Milwaukee.
Lou Williams filled in well for Young, giving the Hawks the scoring burst they needed (21 points) along with eight assists, and Bogdan Bogdanovic returned to form (20 points, five assists, three rebounds, four steals) after struggling with knee soreness and looking out-of-sorts the past few games. Kevin Huerter added seven assists and 15 points. The playmaking of Williams, Bogdanovic and Huerter was key, in Young’s absence.
“I just respect this team and their approach all season long,” interim Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. “As I mentioned at the beginning, we’ve had this situation where we’ve got a lot of guys out, and our guys continue to step up, next man up, and play solid game, play solid basketball. Lou did an excellent job for us tonight just running the team, establishing the tempo.
We got great ball movement tonight, all the things that we talked about. We needed, we got that tonight. It started with our guards. I thought Bogey [Bogdan Bogdanovic] found his rhythm tonight, knocking down some shots. Kevin [Huerter] was really good again. It was a total team effort, and guys continued to step in and take advantage of opportunities when they get them.”
Cam Reddish, who hasn’t really been part of the rotation after missing about four months with right Achilles soreness, was a defensive force against Khris Middleton and added 12 points, five rebounds and two assists, plus two steals and a block.
In a scary moment, midway through the third quarter the Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo fell down hard, stayed down for a while and had to be helped off the court, barely able to put weight on his left leg. He had to stop several times to collect himself and seemed to be in a lot of pain, ruled out with a left knee hyperextension, per the Bucks.
Hawks-Bucks series
Game 1: Hawks 116, Bucks 113
Game 2: Bucks 125, Hawks 91
Game 3: Bucks 113, Hawks 102
Game 4: Hawks 110, Bucks 88
Game 5, Thursday, July 1: Hawks at Bucks, 8:30 p.m., TNT
Game 6, Saturday, July 3: Bucks at Hawks, 8:30 p.m., TNT
Game 7*, Monday, July 5: Hawks at Bucks, 8:30 p.m., TNT
* — If necessary
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