When the Hawks-Bucks series was tied 1-1 and Atlanta clung to a small lead near the end of the third quarter of Game 3 on Sunday, control of the series may have changed with a bit of help from one of the officials.
Trae Young turned his ankle after stepping on the ref's foot when the Hawks were clinging to am 85-82 lead and he was clearly affected in the fourth quarter when the Hawks were outscored by 13.
While there were plenty of Hawks fans blaming that loss on the decreased mobility of Young on offense, you could also place it squarely on the shoulders of the lack of defense.
Bucks forward Khris Middleton scored 20 points in the fourth quarter, including a stretch where he scored 11 of the Bucks points in a key 13-3 run that saw Milwaukee take a three-point lead they wouldn't relinquish.
Middleton is an outstanding player. It's no mistake that he's on this year's Olympic team, and while the Hawks did a decent job on him in Games 1 and 2, limiting him to 15 points in each game, he exploded for 38 points to lead the Bucks in Game 3.
While the Hawks have been concerned with defending Giannis Antetokounmpo, which they haven't done much of to begin with, they are also letting other players have big nights as well.
The Greek Freak has put up some monster stat lines already this series with a near triple-double in Game 1 (34-12-9) and another 30-point, 10-plus rebound effort in Game 3's win. But it's been other guys stepping up alongside him that have been the Hawks downfall so far.
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In addition to barely limiting Giannis, the Hawks allowed Jrue Holiday to go off for 33 points in Game 1 and the aforementioned big-game from Middleton in Game 3.
While there is some serious concern about what the Hawks offense could look like if Young is still limited come Tuesday with his ankle injury, if they don't perform better on defense it might not matter much.
With De'Andre Hunter's season-ending injury and Cam Reddish just now getting back to game action, Nate McMillan doesn't have ton of options defensively to make adjustments. But he may need to change a few things if the Hawks want to win this series, with or without a healthy Young.
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