ATLANTA — With the Atlanta Hawks’ 118-107 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals Saturday at State Farm Arena, a magical playoff run has come to an end.
The Hawks narrowed a 22-point deficit to six with 3:41 to play, finding a second wind with Cam Reddish leading the comeback charge after recently returning from injury, but couldn’t quite pull off the comeback.
Trae Young returned after missing two games with a right foot bone bruise sustained in Game 3, though he didn’t fully look his normal self, finishing with 14 points, nine assists and five turnovers. Reddish led the Hawks in scoring with 21 points. Bogdan Bogdanovic added 20 points, three assists and three steals.
Atlanta gave up 44 points in the third quarter as Khris Middleton (who had a game-high 32 points) got going, and entered the fourth quarter down 19.
The Hawks were 20-47 last year and started this season 14-20, before interim coach Nate McMillan took over for Lloyd Pierce. The team’s preseason goal was to simply make the playoffs, and it ended up wildly exceeding that, advancing to within two games of the NBA Finals.
