The Hawks Blew Out The Bucks In Game 4 To Even The Eastern Conference Finals

The Atlanta Hawks, despite Trae Young being sidelined with a foot injury, obliterated the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Tuesday night. Powered by productive evenings from a number of players — including Young’s replacement in the starting lineup, Lou Williams — Atlanta picked up a 110-88 win to even up the series, 2-2.

The story of the night for Atlanta was how a collective effort lifted them to victory in the absence of Young. Two players, Williams (a game-high 21 points) and Bogdan Bogdanovic (20) scored at least 20, while another four — Clint Capela (15), Kevin Huerter (15), Cam Reddish (12), and Danilo Gallinari (10) — scored at least 10. Williams, in particular, could not have filled his role any better, taking shots as they came in the offense and going 7-for-9 from the field and making two of his three attempts from deep with eight assists and five rebounds.

Still, no Young led to one of the most well-balanced performances that we have seen from a team all postseason.

The exclamation point came from Capela. While not exactly known for his offensive game, the big fella was being harassed by Brook Lopez as the shot clock wound down. His only option was to fall out of bounds and hoist up a prayer, which was answered.

As for Milwaukee, next to no one had a night to remember. Jrue Holiday led them with 19 points and nine assists, while Khris Middleton scored 16 with eight rebounds, five assists, and two steals. But the scoring came on both players going 6-for-17 from the field.

Perhaps things would have been different if Giannis Antetokounmpo did not go down. The former league MVP had 14 points, eight rebounds, and three assists on 7-for-10 shooting, but early in the third quarter, he went down with what the team called a hyperextended left knee injury. Similar to Young, it is unclear if Antetokounmpo will be able to take the floor again in the series.

Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals will take place on Thursday night. The game is scheduled to tip off at 8:30 p.m. EST on TNT from Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.