In a tight race at the back-half of the Eastern Conference playoffs, Milwaukee lifted themselves to a tie for the fifth seed after taking down Charlotte 118-108 on Tuesday night. The Bucks are now tied with the Atlanta Hawks with a 38-36 overall record. That victory also gave the Hornets a deeper hole to climb out of. They've fallen to 33-41 on the season and are now three games back of the final spot in the Eastern Conference. Milwaukee dominated the contest by holding a 22-point lead at the halftime break and never looking back.
Tony Snell lifts Bucks from downtown
Milwaukee hit a stunning 62.2 percent of their shots from the field and made 14-of-30 3-point attempts. The frequent bomber from downtown was shooting guard Tony Snell (8.7 ppg), who hit 4-of-8 himself and finished with a team-high 26 points. He also went a stunning 10-for-14 overall from the field. Small forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (23.1 ppg, 8.5 rpg) also was very efficient, hitting 8-of-13 field goal attempts, and finished with 20 points and 8 boards.
The Bucks owned a 42-31 rebounding advantage and was able to overcome their 26 personal fouls and 14 turnovers. On the flipside, the Hornets had just two turnovers.
Free throw advantage doesn't aid Hornets
The only advantage Charlotte had in this contest was getting to the free throw line. They made 23-of-29 from the charity stripe, which was better than the Bucks converting 12-of-17, but it wasn't nearly enough to keep them in the contest. The team hit 48.8 percent of their shots and went just 7-for-28 from 3-point range.
Point guard Kemba Walker (22.9 ppg, 5.5 apg) led the team with 26 points and had a positive passing ratio of five assists to no turnovers. This was his third straight game getting 26 or more points. Power forward Marvin Williams (11.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg) struggled going 1-for-5 from the field and missing all three 3-point attempts. He finished with six points.
Both teams will be in action again on Wednesday. The Bucks will head to Boston while the Hornets also hit the road to take on Toronto.
