National Basketball Association

Milwaukee Bucks bounce back, blast Atlanta Hawks in Game 2 to set up pivotal Game 3

Updated Jun. 25, 2021 11:52 p.m. ET

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When's the last time an NBA playoff game hasn't been at least remotely thrilling?

The new answer is Friday. 

The Milwaukee Bucks tied the Eastern Conference finals, 1-1, by putting a beatdown on the Atlanta Hawks on Friday, after Trae Young's 48 points and 11 assists shut the door on the Bucks just two days ago. 

This year's playoffs – despite missing the presence of LeBron James, Steph Curry and others – has been nothing short of riveting. Prior to Friday's Milwaukee win, and Thursday's 106-92 win for the LA Clippers over the Phoenix Suns, 11 of the past 14 playoff games had been decided by eight points or fewer.

The past five games prior to Thursday had been decided by a combined 21 points, an average of 4.2 points per game. 

But on Friday, nailbiting was not in the cards. 

Milwaukee led 34-28 after the first quarter, but the second is where things got ugly. The Bucks jumped out to a 51-40 lead, and a few minutes later, that lead ballooned to 71-40, after Milwaukee put together a 20-0 run and won the second frame 43-17.

The Bucks then held the Hawks to 18 points in the third quarter and led 103-63 going into the fourth. 

The beatdown was so bad that the final score – 125-91 – was not actually indicative of how the game went down, as crazy as that sounds. 

"They totally just dominated the entire game," said Hawks coach Nate McMillan at the end of the night.

A few notes about the largest blowouts in NBA history, while we're on the subject: 

The Denver Nuggets are co-owners of the record for the largest margin of victory in NBA history. They beat the New Orleans Hornets by 58 points in a Western Conference first-round game. 

Tied with Denver is the Minneapolis Lakers, which beat the St. Louis Hawks in the 1956 Western Division semifinals. 

After that, there are a few more 50-point blowouts. The Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors by 56 Points in the 1973 Western Conference finals. The Chicago Bulls demolished Milwaukee by 54 Points in the first round in 2015, and the Bucks beat the Warriors by 50 in the 1971 West semifinals. 

The Bucks fell short of one of the biggest blowouts in postseason history, even though it seemed to be well with the realm of possibility, but regardless, Milwaukee got what it needed: a win. 

Still, Atlanta, for the third straight series, stole homecourt advantage as the lower seed in a postseason series, defeating the No. 4 New York Knicks in Game 1 in the first round, the top-seeded Philadelphia 76ers in Game 1 of the East semifinals, and the No. 3 Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday, in Game 1 of the East finals. 

McMillan acknowledged that the Hawks are happily leaving Milwaukee with a split, but also acknowledged that Friday's result was a kick in the pants for his upstart Hawks.

"We had an opportunity to get two but we got one, and we're happy with that," said McMillan. "But they showed us there's another level we have to play at in order to win games and advance."

So far this postseason, the Hawks are 1-1 in Game 3s, while Milwaukee is 2-0 in its pair of Game 3s. Atlanta has gone into each of its Game 3s with the series tied 1-1, while the Bucks entered Game 3 of the first round with a 2-0 lead over the Miami Heat, before trailing 0-2 to the Brooklyn Nets in Eastern Conference semis. 

Trae Young cooled off in a major way for Atlanta, pitching in 15 points on 6-for-16 shooting, after exploding for 48 in Game 1.

And even though he pulled out the shimmy early on …

… he wasn't able to back it up – this time. 

"That's all on me," said Young after the game. "… I'm gonna be better next game."

Onto Game 3. 

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