Hawks at Bucks
The Atlanta Hawks are not keeping up the lofty pace they set in January and will try to bounce back from a rare loss when they visit the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday. The Hawks sandwiched a pair of losses around the All-Star break and are 3-4 in February after going undefeated the previous month. The Bucks have taken over as one of the hottest teams in the Eastern Conference and are winners of nine of their last 10 games.
Atlanta faced off against its closest competition in the East on Friday and fell flat with a 105-80 home loss to the Toronto Raptors while committing 23 turnovers. “We were just sloppy,” Hawks center Al Horford told reporters. “We were throwing the ball all over the place.” The setback marked Atlanta’s worst loss since a 107-77 home loss against Milwaukee, which was their final loss before the start of a franchise-record 19-game winning streak.
TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, SportSouth (Atlanta), FSN Wisconsin (Milwaukee)
ABOUT THE HAWKS (43-12): Atlanta had four players in the All-Star game and Kyle Korver, Jeff Teague, Paul Millsap and Horford combined to go 14-of-46 from the field in the loss to the Raptors. The Hawks failed to reach 90 points in any of their last three setbacks and are surrendering 102.9 points in seven games this month after holding opponents to an average of 94.3 in January. “I think there are some nights when you’re not making shots, and you’ve got to be better defensively on those nights,” Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer told reporters. “I don’t think we were good on the defensive end of the court (against Toronto).”
ABOUT THE BUCKS (31-23): Brandon Knight scored 16 points in the 30-point triumph over the Hawks on Dec. 26 but was shipped away to the Phoenix Suns at Thursday’s trade deadline, with Michael Carter-Williams imported from Philadelphia to take his place. Carter-Williams, who is dealing with a toe injury, did not make his Bucks’ debut on Friday and is questionable for Sunday. Jerryd Bayless took over the point guard duties and delivered 11 points, eight assists and seven rebounds in an 89-81 win over the Denver Nuggets.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The visiting team has taken the last three in the series.
2. Milwaukee F Ersan Ilyasova (illness) is questionable for Sunday.
3. Korver is 3-of-16 from 3-point range over the last two regular-season games.