On January 18, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued to unfold, and the defending champion Bucks challenged the Eagles away. The two teams met in the Eastern Conference Finals last season, but this season the two teams have performed very differently, with the Bucks still being the league's strongest team and the Hawks constantly having problems. This time, the Hawks also fell into passivity, and the Bucks have maintained a lead, but in the last quarter, Trae Young led the team to complete the reversal. In the end, the Hawks defeated the Bucks 121-114 at home, ending a five-game losing streak.
The Hawks fell into a slump as soon as they started, with the Bucks taking the upper hand under Middleton, taking a nine-point lead in the first quarter; the Bucks quickly widened the point difference to double digits in the second quarter, after which the two teams soared three-pointers against each other, and the Hawks did not narrow the gap after halftime, trailing by 12 points. In the second half, the Bucks still had the upper hand at the beginning, but then Trae Young began to erupt, scoring assists and two blossoms, leading the team to narrow the point difference to 5 points after playing in the third quarter; the Bucks once opened the point difference by double digits in the last quarter, but Trae Young scored consecutive points, and at the critical moment Hunter won the key ball to hit the board to seal the victory, helping the team stop the decline of 5 consecutive losses.
The Bucks have almost always had the upper hand in this game, leading by 14 points at one point, but they were unexpectedly reversed by their opponents in the final quarter, and this is the first time they lost after taking the lead in the third quarter of the season, and the record became 23-1. This time alphabet brother and Middleton combined to bomb 61 points, but they did not get too much support, of which the alphabet brother this time did not feel good, 8 of 20 shots, 10 of 14 free throws, got 27 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, also had 5 mistakes, plus or minus -17 The team was second to the bottom.
Middleton also played well this time, shooting 11 of 22, 9 of 4 three-pointers, a game-high 34 points, plus 7 rebounds and 4 assists, but also 8 mistakes. In the final quarter, Middleton suddenly fell into a slump, with 6 turnovers and 4 fouls in the quarter alone. Interestingly, the Bucks made a total of 13 turnovers in this game, all from Alphabet Brother and Middleton.
The Eagles finally found their confidence this time, and star Trae Young played well, although the feel was not very good, but the performance at the key moment was still good, 7 of 17 shots, 6 of 2 of 3 points, contributing 30 points and 11 assists of the double-double data. Led by Trae Young, the Hawks had six players in double figures, Hunter 20 points and 9 rebounds, Collins 16 points and 12 rebounds, Hult 13 points and 8 rebounds, Okonwu 12 points and 8 rebounds, and veteran Gallinari on the bench 16 points.