Soon after the ball was tipped, it was clear the Hawks intended to bury the Bucks with effort and the energy drawn from their enthusiastic home crowd.
Domination is what the Hawks have come to expect at Philips Arena. Now that it’s the playoffs, they and their fans took it to another level.
The Hawks staggered the Bucks with their opening barrage and went on to a 102-92 victory in Game 1 of the best-of-seven playoff series. The Bucks took too long to recover from the start and came up short in their comeback attempt in the second half.
The Hawks posted a 34-7 home record during the regular season and won their final 12 games on their court.
“We’re at home,” Woodson said. “We’re playing playoff basketball, and we’re playing in front of our fans, who were fantastic tonight. That’s the energy. We came out and jumped them right away.”
The Hawks scored 34 points in the first quarter, their third-highest total for the quarter in the franchise’s postseason history. They led 62-40 at halftime after posting their sixth-highest total in the first half of a playoff game.
“It felt good,” said Hawks forward Josh Smith. “The energy was high and the adrenaline was pumping, and we were able to calm down and get off to a good start.”
The Hawks survived a second-half offensive lull and a Bucks rally led by rookie Brandon Jennings. Jennings scored 34 points, but the Bucks didn’t get much production from others until it was too late.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Tuesday at Philips Arena. If the Bucks hope to get a win before the series shifts to Milwaukee, they’ll have to match the Hawks’ energy from the start.
“I feel like we need to come out with more intensity,” Jennings said. “I think we were a little nervous.
The Hawks’ offense was humming early. Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby made jump shots from the perimeter, and Al Horford and Josh Smith went to work inside.
Those four combined for 45 points in the first half. The Bucks might have folded without Jennings, who for a while seemed to be the only Milwaukee player who wasn’t rattled.
He scored 20 points and made eight of 14 shots in the first half while his teammates combined to score 20 points with eight of 28 field goals made. Jennings scored 10 points, and John Salmons had six in the opening seven minutes as the Bucks closed the deficit to 70-58.
The Hawks’ lead was down to 77-70 when Bibby made a 3-pointer, and Jamal Crawford sank a free throw to make the score 81-70 at the end of three quarters.
Bibby opened the fourth quarter with another basket to make it 83-70. But the Bucks kept coming, and the Hawks suffered through the kind of offensive drought that has plagued them at times this season.
Ersan Ilyasova’s 3-pointer got Milwaukee within 87-80 with less than eight minutes to play.
“The first half we were a little shellshocked,” said Bucks coach Scott Skiles. “I think in the second half we competed harder. We settled down a bit and played more like ourselves.”
Johnson’s jump shot pushed the Hawks’ lead to 96-84 with 3:32 left. Milwaukee then stole consecutive bad passes by Bibby and took them for layups to make the score 96-88 with 2:22 to go.
Johnson responded with a basket, and the Hawks held on in the final two minutes. He finished with 22 points to lead six Hawks who scored in double figures.
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