Bucks at Hawks
The Milwaukee Bucks are striving to shake out of the doldrums when they visit the Atlanta Hawks on Monday. Milwaukee remains in sixth place in the Eastern Conference but has lost seven of its last nine contests and has slipped under .500. Atlanta has lost four of its last six contests but has already wrapped up best record in the East and has been regularly resting different starters and giving its reserves plenty of action.
The Bucks fell to the Golden State Warriors 108-95 on Saturday and have allowed more than 100 points in five of their last six games. Atlanta point guard Jeff Teague (ankle) sat out Saturday’s 115-100 loss to the Charlotte Hornets and fellow starters Al Horford, Paul Millsap, DeMarre Carroll and Kyle Korver were held out to rest. The Hawks are 31-5 at home with one of the losses coming against Milwaukee.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Wisconsin (Milwaukee), SportSouth (Atlanta)
ABOUT THE BUCKS (36-37): Power forward Ersan Ilyasova had a poor outing in the loss to Golden State two days after having the best outing of his career. Ilyasova scored a career-best 34 points against the Indiana Pacers on Thursday – making 12-of-14 shots, including 5-of-6 from 3-point range – before having just eight points on 1-of-10 shooting against the Warriors. Ilyasova had scored in double digits in nine straight games before his struggles against Golden State.
ABOUT THE HAWKS (55-18): Korver’s next 3-pointer will mark the third time in franchise history that a player made 200 3-pointers in a season. Former Atlanta star Mookie Blaylock has the two highest figures – 231 in 1995-96 and 221 in 1996-97 – and Korver is currently tied with Blaylock (199 in 1994-95) for third. Korver has topped 200 3-pointers one other time in his career when he made 226 for the Philadelphia 76ers in 2004-05.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Hawks are 2-1 against the Bucks this season but Milwaukee posted a 107-77 trouncing in Atlanta on Dec. 26.
2. Millsap is averaging 20.7 points and 11.7 rebounds against Milwaukee this season.
3. Bucks C John Henson had four blocked shots against Golden State and is one of five NBA players to have 13 games of four or more blocks this season – Anthony Davis, Rudy Gobert, Serge Ibaka and DeAndre Jordan are the others.