Injury-plagued Atlanta Hawks take down Milwaukee Bucks 112-87

Jan 25, 2014; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Shelvin Mack (8) passes the ball during the third quarter against the Milwaukee Bucks at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Hawks went into Milwaukee with a banged up roster, but they had one thing in their favor: They were going into Milwaukee. Paul Millsap and Lou Williams both led Atlanta offensively, and the Hawks were able to come away with a super easy 112-87 win.

Like we talked about in the preview, the Bucks are the worst team in the NBA and they came up during the schedule at an ideal time with, Jeff Teague getting injured just the other night in Atlanta’s loss to the Spurs. However, before the game started the team got a big boost when they found out DeMarre Carroll would be playing after missing some time due a hamstring strain he picked up during the team’s game against the Hawks.

Millsap, Williams and Carroll were all big keys to the Hawks dominating effort in this one. Millsap led Atlanta in scoring with 20 points, and also picked up eight rebounds and four assists. Williams was right behind the big man with a great game off of the bench–scoring 18 points on a 6-9 night shooting (3-5 from three).

Kyle Korver kept his 3-point streak alive (surprised?) and had an extremely efficient night behind the arc, hitting three of his four attempts. The three-point shooting for the whole team was actually really good tonight, compared to a terrible effort against San Antonio. As a team, the Hawks were 13-26 (50 percent) from the three-point line.

Shelvin Mack filled in for Teague at point guard, but split a lot of minutes with Williams and Dennis Schroder. Mack had a solid 24 minutes for the team (nine points, four assists) but Schroder continued to struggle in his time (18 minutes, 1-6 from the field, two assists and two turnovers). The two will likely continue to see minutes while Teague is out.

While this was nice win to see from the Hawks, it was an expected one, and the next team they face will pose a much much bigger challenge. It’s good to know that Carroll will be available to help slow down the Thunder, but without Teague and Horford, the task might be too tall.