5 Reasons why Milwaukee Bucks won 113-102 against Atlanta Hawks in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals | 2021 NBA Playoffs

#3 Giannis Antetokounmpo dominated his matchups

Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Bucks is pressured by Onyeka Okongwu #17 and John Collins #20 of the Hawks

After a tentative first quarter, Antetokounmpo slowly eased his way into the scoring column. He put his combination of strength, speed, quickness and length to work over the Atlanta Hawks' Clint Capela, John Collins and Danilo Gallinari.

Antetokounmpo was spinning, dunking and finger-rolling his way to the rim from the second quarter. There was no stopping him except by sending him to the line, where he was 6-of-13.

The Atlanta Hawks’ Onyeka Okongwu had a bit of success guarding him in the fourth quarter. But his contributions weren’t enough to prevent a Milwaukee Bucks win. The Greek Freak recorded 33 points and 11 boards for his second double-double of the series.

The Greek Freak did his thing:33 PTS | 11 REB | 4 AST | 62% FG pic.twitter.com/cDFMyymJec

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) June 28, 2021

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#4 Fourth-quarter defense on Atlanta Hawks

After being outscored by the Atlanta Hawks in two of the previous three quarters, the Milwaukee Bucks used a suffocating defense in the fourth quarter to put the game away. Jrue Holiday had a poor shooting night, but he made up for it with a stellar defense on the perimeter (two steals and two blocks total), along with Pat Connaughton.

Antetokounmpo, Middleton and P.J. Tucker controlled the paint and contested almost every shot that the Atlanta Hawks put up. The Hawks scored just 17 points and shot 46.4 percent overall from the field after making more than 50 percent of their shots most of the night.

When the Bucks play championship defense in this manner, it’s incredibly difficult to stop them.

#5 Trae Young twisted his ankle

With less than a minute to go in the third quarter, Trae Young tweaked his ankle after stepping on a referee’s foot. He went down and exited the playing area to get treatment. Young was simply not the same player in the fourth quarter.

Trae Young heads to the locker room with an apparent ankle injuryPrayers up 🙏 pic.twitter.com/KqbwUuUHMr

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 28, 2021

Young scored just three points in the fourth after scoring 32 through three quarters. Credit should go to the Milwaukee Bucks for winning the game, but one wonders what might have happened if the Atlanta Hawks guard hadn’t twisted his ankle. There’s a chance that the Hawks, who led by two points heading into the fourth, could have won.

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