We’re back with the Bucks! Atlanta has a chance to clinch the season series in Milwaukee this afternoon. Doing so will go a long way if tiebreakers are needed to avoid the white-hot Miami HEAT in the first-round of the postseason.

The final major road trip of this season has Our Fine Feathered Friends flying from Beertown to Naptown to Beantown. They leave Milwaukee for a tilt with the Pacers tomorrow night, and then go north of the border to face the Raptors on Wednesday before finishing their tour through the Northeast at Boston Garden on Friday night.

Milwaukee is at risk of going the wrong way, with two straight losses on the road at ATL and in Indiana. At the BMO Harris (I don’t know what that is) Bradley Center, Milwaukee will be hoofing for their first home win against a playoff-bound Eastern Conference team since upending the HEAT back on December 29, although they’re just 0-4 in that stretch.

The Hawks are likely to be without two key frontcourt reserves, as Ivan Johnson (back spasms) is listed as questionable and will likely join Zaza Pachulia (Achilles) on the sideline. In their absence, it will be great to get meaningful production out of Mike Scott and Johan Petro.

Josh Smith got his season-high of 16 boards against the Bucks on Wednesday. With Milwaukee’s defense adjusting to try and impede Al Horford (24.5 PPG vs. Milwaukee, his highest against any NBA team; 13.0 RPG), it will be crucial for Smith to wreck shop in the paint once again. Against Portland, Smoove got a season-high 10 free throw attempts, making six.

Slowing down power forwards has become a bit of a problem for the Bucks. Recently starting in place of David West, the Pacers’ Tyler Hansbrough got his season-high 22 points along with 12 rebounds against the Bucks’ frontline on Friday. Bucks fans would greatly appreciate a “Palm Sunday” from NBA-leading shotblocker Larry Sanders, who will need to help his forwards on defense. Not likely capable of Bucking the trend, but at least to offset the opposing team’s offense, Ersan Ilyasova has been upgraded to questionable for today’s action.

Three-point defense still remains an issue for the ATLiens. The Blazers shot a very comfortable 10-for-18, bringing the Hawks’ opponent 3FG percentage up to 38.2% (3^rd highest in NBA). Dallas also shot 13-for-22 last week, both double-digit losses at home. The Hawks are 4-12 when foes sink at least ten threes, and the four victories are all against non-playoff teams. Dahntay Jones and DeShawn Stevenson played a combined 9 minutes against the Bucks, who shot 42.1% (8-for-19) on Wednesday, and each will get some more burn patrolling the perimeter. Hopefully they watched some tape of Paul George and Lance Stephenson, as the Pacers held the Bucks to 3-for-19 three-point shooting on Friday.

Indiana also throttled Milwaukee’s passing game, as the Bucks could only muster 17 assists, three fewer than they got against Atlanta on Wednesday. Milwaukee is just 2-19 this season when they assist on 20 or fewer baskets. Jeff Teague must play stout D on Brandon Jennings, while Milwaukee native Devin Harris must be more disruptive than he was against Portland. Monta Ellis was a non-factor with one assist and 5 points on 2-for-14 shooting in Atlanta, and will be eager to show he can’t be consistently neutralized.

With the playoff-clinching Magic Number at 2, the Hawks need to treat this like a playoff game, and not just wait on the dregs of the Eastern Conference to clinch the postseason on their behalf. We should be doin' it our way!

Go Hawks!

~lw3