Atlanta Hawks to play Milwaukee Bucks in Bradley Center
By John Buhler
The Atlanta Hawks will play the Milwaukee Bucks for the first time this NBA season. Tipoff is at 8:00 PM ET at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Friday night.
The Atlanta Hawks (23-16) get their first taste of the Milwaukee Bucks (16-25) this season when they play each other at the BMO Harris Bradley Center Friday night. Tipoff for the game is at 8:00 PM ET and the game will air on Fox Sports Southeast.
Atlanta is coming off both the peak and the valley of their 2015-16 NBA season. Their dominant performance at home on Saturday evening against the Chicago Bulls, 120-105, was the team’s best game of 2015-16. The Hawks then played awful basketball in the Queen City on Wednesday night, getting crushed by the Charlotte Hornets, 107-84.
This is a part of the season’s schedule where the Atlanta Hawks absolutely have to take advantage of, as they won’t play a team capable of winning multiple playoff series until the 27th when they play the Los Angeles Clippers. Losing to Charlotte was not a good start to this eight game stretch (@Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Orlando, @Portland, @Sacramento, @Phoenix, @Denver).
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Fortunately, the Milwaukee Bucks have consistently been the third-worst team in the NBA’s Eastern Conference for the better part of the season. The Bucks, along with the Brooklyn Nets and the Philadelphia 76ers feel like the only teams at this point that don’t have a realistic shot at making the 2016 Eastern Conference Playoffs. They are 5.0 games back of eighth-place Orlando in the East entering tonight’s game with the Atlanta Hawks.
The best way for the Atlanta Hawks to get back in the win column on Friday night is to attack the Bucks’ weak defense early and often. Milwaukee is 23rd in the NBA in points allowed per game at 103.6 and dead last in team defensive rating at 109.8. It’s hard to imagine, but Bucks head coach Jason Kidd had this team playing like a top five defense only last season.
Atlanta plays a contrasting style of the Milwaukee Bucks, as they are the ninth best team in offensive rating (105.9) and ninth in pace (96.7). Should the Atlanta Hawks play perimeter defense and not give up 40 three-point attempts like they did in Charlotte, the Hawks should get back into the win column on Friday night.
Next: Atlanta Hawks: Eastern Conference Power Rankings, Jan. 14
For Atlanta to win on Friday night, they are going to need more than Paul Millsap in double figures scoring to beat the Bucks who are 11-7 at home this year. I’m looking forward to strong games from both center Al Horford and point guard Jeff Teague this evening. Let’s Go Hawks!