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Milwaukee Bucks can’t slow Trae Young in game 1

By Steven Schauer

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - JUNE 23: Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks sets up a play against Trae Young #11 of the Atlanta Hawks during the third quarter in game one of the Eastern Conference Finals at Fiserv Forum on June 23, 2021 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - JUNE 23: Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks sets up a play against Trae Young #11 of the Atlanta Hawks during the third quarter in game one of the Eastern Conference Finals at Fiserv Forum on June 23, 2021 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images) /
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Giannis Antetokounmpo nearly had a triple-double for the Milwaukee Bucks, but it ultimately didn’t matter because Trae Young was the star of the night leading the Atlanta Hawks to a 116-113 win in game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Game 2 is Friday night at 7:30 pm CT in Milwaukee.

Young made floaters, dished out dimes and even did a shoulder shimmy in the face of the Bucks to taunt a little before knocking down a wide-open 3-pointer. Milwaukee didn’t have an answer for the third-year guard who ended with 48 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds.

Milwaukee led 111-110 with 1:39 to play before Clint Capela made a putback layup to give Atlanta the lead for good. Down the stretch, Young would make a pair of free throws twice and Giannis would sink two of his own.

With 4.6 seconds to play, the Milwaukee Bucks got the ball to Khris Middleton off an inbounds pass. The shooting forward took one dribble to gather himself and launched a 27-footer that hit the front of the rim and softly off the backboard before the final horn eventually sounded.

It was a game Milwaukee needed to win because of its home-court advantage and against a team that has been making noise with their upsets. Atlanta defeated New York 4-1 in a 5 vs. 4 matchup in the opening round before going the distance to take down top-seeded Philadelphia in seven games.

While Young was putting on a show, Jrue Holiday had himself a nice performance with 33 points, 10 assists, four rebounds, two steals and a block. This comes on the same day he committed to play for Team U.S.A. in the Olympics.

Holiday talked afterwards about being aggressive the entire game and finding more ways to slow down Young.

Antetokounmpo finished with 34 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists.

Atlanta also received 23 points and 15 rebounds from John Collins, while Capela had 12 points and 19 rebounds.

Milwaukee’s Bobby Portis scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds in just under 15 minutes off the bench.

The loss was the first at home for Milwaukee this postseason.

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