Giannis Antetokounmpo catches fire in Bucks win as NBA Cup run ends for Dyson Daniels’ Hawks

Dyson Daniels and the Atlanta Hawks’ fairytale NBA Cup run has come to an end, with a Giannis Antetokounmpo-inspired Milwaukee Bucks team claiming a 110-102 win.

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Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard had combined for 58.5 points per game before Saturday’s semi-final, which marked the most by a NBA duo this season.

It was therefore fitting that they combined for 57 points against Atlanta to book their spot in the NBA Cup final against either the Oklahoma City Thunder or Houston Rockets.

Antetokounmpo was a force on both ends with 32 points, 14 rebounds, nine assists and four blocks while Lillard had 25 points, six rebounds, seven assists and three steals.

Trae Young (35 points, 10 assists) led the way for Atlanta, making 17 free throw attempts in the loss.

Antetokounmpo got downhill early for the first points of the game before adding another strong finish shortly after a Taurean Prince corner 3-pointer, giving Milwaukee a 7-0 buffer after the first two minutes.

The Hawks repeated their early shooting struggles against the Knicks, this time going 0-for-6 from the field before Young kickstarted an otherwise stagnant offence with a triple.

Things just weren’t clicking for Atlanta, with Daniels even missing a pair of free throws before a string of turnovers from Milwaukee played into the Hawks’ hands, allowing them to push the pace and start finding some rhythm.

Having initially been on the wrong end of a 7-0 run to open the game, Atlanta went on a 7-0 run of its own at one point in the quarter.

A seesawing first period, which also included another 9-0 Hawks run, ended with Atlanta up 28-26 despite its early shooting woes.

The Bucks weren’t much better despite making their first 3-pointer of the night, going on to miss nine-straight triples.

Young was, as expected, heavily involved for the Hawks in the first quarter with 10 points and five assists and, predictably, Atlanta then struggled with its star point guard on the bench to open the second.

The Bucks outscored the Hawks 12-0 early before Atlanta answered back with an 11-3 run of its own, prompting Milwaukee to call a timeout after a Daniels steal led to a layup on the other end.

Points didn’t come easy for Daniels early, with the Australian guard well off on his first two 3-point attempts of the night while turnovers were also an issue at times.

It wasn’t just Daniels though, with the Hawks struggling on offence as a whole in the first half, shooting just 15 of 44 field goal attempts (34.1 per cent).

A pair of timely 3-pointers from Bogdan Bogdanovic and De’Andre Hunter, along with the usual contributions from Young, were the only consistent sources of offence for the Hawks.

Outside of that, Atlanta’s defence was also helping keep the game close, with the Bucks taking a 55-49 lead into halftime.

The Hawks were able to get within two points before back-to-back triples for Prince and Brook Lopez helped Milwaukee re-establish its lead, going up 65-57 after an emphatic Antetokounmpo block on Jalen Johnson set the tone early in the third for the Bucks.

Atlanta needed something to turn momentum and Young ended up providing just that, scoring 11 points to reduce the lead to 75-73 while even making an impact on the defensive end.

Daniels, meanwhile, rebounded from one of his least effective offensive halves of the season to get to the rim more often, attacking the basket and laying it in on two occasions.

He finished the quarter with six points, three rebounds and two assists while Johnson caught fire at the end of the quarter, even getting a technical foul for taunting after putting Bobby Portis on a poster.

The Hawks took a 83-82 lead into the fourth and unlike the first few quarters there weren’t any significant runs, with both teams trading buckets in a game that went down to the wire.

Atlanta had a chance to tie the game with just under five minutes left when Daniels went to the line, although he was only able to make one of two free throws.

The Bucks were able to get out to a 103-96 lead with three minutes left as Antetokounmpo started to take over late in the piece on both ends, including a monstrous block on Clint Capela.

It looked like Milwaukee was going to score an easy bucket on the other end of the floor, only for Daniels to sneak up and strip the ball and force a turnover out of bounds from the Bucks.

“That was huge on the other end of the floor,” Brian Anderson said in commentary.

The Hawks weren’t able to convert on the other and while the Bucks looked in a strong position to close the game out, a sideline out of bounds turnover gifted Atlanta another opportunity.

But Young missed on an early 3-point attempt, with Lillard dropping in a floater on the other end to put the Bucks up 107-100 with 27 seconds left and they went on with the job from there.