Hawks handle Bucks, but Milwaukee makes playoffs anyway

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Josh Smith scored a career-high 28 points and Marvin Williams added 19 Saturday night in the Atlanta Hawks' 120-114 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, who qualified for the playoffs despite the loss.

Atlanta snapped an 11-game road losing streak and four in a row overall by getting 16 points from Zaza Pachulia, 15 points each from Donta Smith and Joe Johnson, and 14 from Tyronn Lue.

The Hawks overcame Andrew Bogut's career-high 24 points to go with 12 rebounds. Michael Redd scored 36 points, Bobby Simmons 18 and Charlie Bell 10 as Milwaukee made the playoffs just before halftime when Orlando beat Philadelphia 102-97 earlier in the night.

The Bucks can still earn the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference if they win all their remaining games -- home against Detroit on Monday and at Washington on Tuesday, because Indiana lost in overtime to Charlotte on Saturday.

If the Bucks beat the Pistons, they'll hold every tiebreaker against Indiana, in sixth, and Washington, in fifth.

The Hawks took a 96-88 lead with 8:54 to play on Josh Smith's layup as the crowd booed Milwaukee's second-half performance. The game featured 21 lead changes, but none in the fourth quarter.

T.J. Ford cut Atlanta's lead to 105-102 with 4 minutes remaining on a layup. Josh Smith was charged with a technical foul on the play, and Redd hit the free throw to cut the Hawks' lead to 105-103.

But Lue hit a fadeway on the ensuing possession to push the lead back to four, and Pachulia added back-to-back baskets to make it 111-103 with 2:22 left.

Redd's 3-pointer made it 115-111 with 35 seconds to go, but Pachulia got behind the defense on a breakaway dunk with 29 seconds left and the Bucks could get no closer.

Bogut and Williams, the top two picks in the last draft, put on a scoring exhibition before the fourth quarter.

Williams, who finished with 10 rebounds, scored 13 points in the second quarter. Bogut added 10 points in the third, but Smith bettered him with 13 points in the quarter to give Atlanta an 87-83 lead after three.

Milwaukee missed the playoffs last year after going 30-52. The last time the Bucks advanced past the first round was in 2001, when Redd was a rookie and only appeared in six games. Ervin Johnson was also on the team, while current Bucks coach Terry Stotts was an assistant.

Game notes
Atlanta F Josh Childress sat out his second game of a two-game suspension for throwing a forearm to the head of Chicago F Andres Nocioni in an April 12 game. Nocioni was also fined $5,000 for the incident. ... Milwaukee is 7-2 against the Southeast Division. ... The Bucks had won five straight against Atlanta and 13 of their last 15 meetings in Milwaukee. The Hawks missed a last second shot to win in their previous meeting with the Bucks in Milwaukee. ... Hawks F Al Harrington missed his third game with a bruised left hand.