{"id":658195,"date":"2026-03-14T16:23:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T16:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/658195\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T16:23:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T16:23:33","slug":"milwaukee-bucks-vs-atlanta-hawks-preview-game-thread-last-chance-saloon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/658195\/","title":{"rendered":"Milwaukee Bucks vs. Atlanta Hawks Preview & Game Thread: Last chance saloon?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Milwaukee Bucks front up today against the Atlanta Hawks in what will likely be their final chance to beat a side right above them in the standings (and thus gain a full game on that opponent). Analysts like Zach Lowe have wondered whether Giannis will get shut down soon if they don\u2019t stack wins over the next week or so. But let\u2019s be honest: if they aren\u2019t dead already, a loss today will all but ensure it. The series currently stands at one game apiece (with this game being the series decider).<\/p>\n

Where We\u2019re At<\/p>\n

Well, the Bucks have lost seven of their last eight games, and the vibe around the team is\u2026 not great. Most recently, they\u2019ve lost to the Magic, Suns, and Heat. Giannis\u2019 return has not resulted in improved performance; they are 1-4 with him in the lineup. That said, it\u2019s not like Doc isn\u2019t trying things; he went to a Porter-Dieng-Kuzma-Antetokounmpo-Turner starting lineup against Miami. But ultimately, none of the changes have been all that fruitful.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The Hawks, on the other hand, are flying, winning eight straight (though most of those games have come against tanking and\/or injured teams). But hey, all you can do is play who\u2019s in front of you, and the Hawks own the NBA\u2019s top net rating of 17.4 during that span (the second-highest is 13.5). In particular, they are leaning on defence, ranking at the top of the league in that time.<\/p>\n

Injury Report<\/p>\n

For the Bucks, Giannis (calf injury management) is questionable, though it seems likely that this designation is because they intend to play him in the second half of the back-to-back against Indy; I\u2019m going to assume he plays today for the sake of this preview. Also questionable are Ousmane Dieng (illness) and Kevin Porter Jr. (knee).<\/p>\n

For the Hawks, Jonathan Kuminga (knee) is out.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Player to Watch<\/p>\n

Nickeil Alexander-Walker had 23 points on 9\/14 shooting in the last game, including 5\/9 from three. No longer is he the three-and-D player he once was; this is a primary option who can really go. The Bucks need to be ready.<\/p>\n

How To Watch<\/p>\n

FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin at 2:00 p.m. CDT.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Milwaukee Bucks front up today against the Atlanta Hawks in what will likely be their final chance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":658196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3776],"tags":[676,208,3874,7,206,127,568,123,677,867,365,295,102,121,6,379,6609,361,1980],"class_list":["post-658195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-atlanta-hawks","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-hawks","tag-atlantahawks","tag-basketball","tag-dyson-daniels","tag-fiserv-forum","tag-getty-images","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-hawks","tag-jonathan-kuminga","tag-kevin-porter-jr","tag-miami","tag-milwaukee","tag-milwaukee-bucks","tag-nba","tag-nickeil-alexander-walker","tag-ousmane-dieng","tag-the-bucks","tag-wisconsin"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116228458091650136","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}