Five Takeaways from Hawks Loss to Bucks

The Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks were up against a competitive slate of sporting events on Saturday night. However, fans that stuck with hoops over the World Series and college football were treated to an exciting regular season game.

Trae Young scored a season-high 42 points for the Hawks, while Giannis Antetokounpo and Jrue Holiday scored 34 points each for the Bucks. Unfortunately, the game ended with an anticlimactic foul call. Below are our five biggest takeaways.

Officiating

As we mentioned earlier, a thrilling game ended on a controversial foul call. Hawks head coach Nate McMillan called a timeout with his team down by three points with 23 seconds left.

We have no idea if the ATO play would have worked because veteran NBA official Scott Foster whistled Young for an offensive foul. Check out the Twitter video below and be the judge.

This was called on offensive foul with the Hawks trailing by three with 23 seconds remaining 🧐 pic.twitter.com/vWLSUUK1CU
— Bally Sports: Hawks (@HawksOnBally) October 30, 2022

Trae Young

Young cannot be faulted for carrying out the designed play. Unfortunately, it was a sour ending to his best game of the season. Minus a scoreless second quarter, Young scored 42 points on 46.9% shooting from the field and 50% from behind the arc. Not bad for the second night of a back-to-back.

Holiday Brothers

Fans could be forgiven if they were confused by the number of Holiday brothers on the court. Last night, Jrue, Justin, and Aaron were on the floor simultaneously for large stretches of the game.

Of course, Jrue had the best game. But Hawks' teammates Justin and Aaron held their own. Justin snapped out of his cold streak, scoring 10 points on 80% shooting. Aaron logged 24 valuable minutes against one of the best teams in the NBA.

John Collins

Five Hawks players scored in double-digits last night. However, John Collins had his second consecutive quiet game after a fiery start to the season. Collins scored just four points on four shot attempts. Perhaps it had to do with the matchups presented by the Bucks. But the Hawks must find a way to get Collins more involved on offense.

Free Throws

The Bucks attempted 29 free throws compared to the Hawks 15. We can't blame the referees for the foul discrepancy, though. Antetokounmpo leads the NBA in free throw attempts.

Meanwhile, the Hawks are prone to settling on offense. As of this morning, the Hawks are next-to-last in the NBA in free throw attempts per game. This is another area which must improve in a hurry.

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