NBA Playoffs: Milwaukee Bucks Destroy Atlanta Hawks in Game 2 of ECF

The Atlanta Hawks found themselves on a bit of a hot streak after making it out of the second round of the NBA Playoffs. After defeating the first-seeded Philadelphia 76ers on the road to knock them out of the playoffs, Atlanta punched its ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals.

From Philly, the Hawks went straight to Milwaukee to face the Bucks, who defeated the Brooklyn Nets in seven games as underdogs as well. While Milwaukee was the heavy favorite as many claimed the Hawks' magical run would end in the Conference Finals, the Hawks once again shocked the NBA.

On the road in Milwaukee, the Hawks opened up the series with a win. Atlanta's young superstar Trae Young collected nearly 50 points as his team got off to an ideal start considering they stole home-court advantage in the series.

But as good as that Game 1 victory was for the Hawks, the Bucks didn't take the defeat so kindly. Therefore, they came back in Game 2 with a chip on their shoulder.

The first quarter of Friday night's game was a tight one. As both teams shot 52-percent from the field as a whole, the quarter wrapped up with the Hawks trailing just six points, although the Bucks led throughout the entire opening 12 minutes.

After that, the Bucks couldn't have played any better. Shooting over 70-percent from the field overall, Milwaukee collected 43 points in the second quarter alone. Meanwhile, the Hawks struggled to get anything going as they shot just 33-percent from the field and scored less than 20 points.

Heading into halftime, Milwaukee had a commanding 77-45 lead. In the previous round, the Hawks never let themselves get mentally broken after trailing by double digits. Keeping their heads in the game, they managed to climb back from two significant leads against the Sixers and won both comeback games.

However, the Bucks weren't going to allow the Hawks to snag a third comeback postseason victory during this year's run. Once again, in the third quarter, the Bucks outscored the Hawks 26-18. Leading by as much as 40 points in the Game 2 outing, it was becoming quite clear that the Hawks had little-to-no chance of climbing back and going up 2-0 on the series.

Both teams trotted out their deep bench players by the fourth quarter as Atlanta waved the white flag. In the end, the Hawks fell way short to the Bucks as they took on a 125-91 loss to the Hawks. Now, the series is tied 1-1 as the Bucks will visit Atlanta for the next two matchups.