Bucks fall to Hawks, 1st loss of season

article

(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

MILWAUKEE - Dejounte Murray scored 25 points, rookie A.J. Griffin came off the bench in Trae Young's absence to add a career-high 24 and the Atlanta Hawks snapped the Milwaukee Bucks’ season-opening, nine-game winning streak with a 117-98 victory on Monday night.

Giannis Antetokounmpo returned from a one-game absence with a sore left knee to score 25 points for the Bucks, who were attempting to become the first team to begin a season 10-0 since the 2014-15 Golden State Warriors got off to a 24-0 start.

Young, Atlanta’s leader in points and assists, missed the game with right shin soreness. Griffin filled in admirably, logging 31 minutes and going 10 of 15 from the field.

Milwaukee committed a season-high 19 turnovers, leading to 22 Atlanta points.

Milwaukee’s winning streak was tied for the second-longest under fifth-year coach Mike Budenholzer and the longest since winning 18 in a row in 2019-20.

Atlanta took its first lead with 9:20 left in the third quarter when Murray hit a 17-footer that made it 62-60. The Hawks went up by as many as nine twice, the second time when Murray’s 17-footer made it 89-80 in the closing seconds of the third.

The Hawks outscored Milwaukee 37-22 in the third.

Brook Lopez hit a 3 midway through the first quarter for the game’s first double-digit lead. A third 3 by Grayson Allen made it 21-8, and the Hawks called timeout. Atlanta trailed by as much as 14 in the first half but went on a 21-9 run that trimmed the lead to two on Onyeka Okongwu’s baseline jumper midway through the second quarter.

SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News

Antetokounmpo followed a couple of possessions later in combining with Jrue Holiday on an alley-oop dunk, and Holiday buried a long jumper to make it 45-39. The Bucks led 58-52 at halftime.

The Hawks (7-3) are off to their best start to a season through its first 10 games since the 2016-17 team went 8-2.