NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: HAWKS VS. BUCKS

July 1, 2021

Nate McMillan

Atlanta Hawks

Game 5: Postgame

Milwaukee Bucks 123, Atlanta Hawks 112

Q. What was your assessment of what went wrong in that first quarter in those first few minutes?

NATE McMILLAN: Just they were more physical. They hit us in the mouth, and we just did not recover from that. They were aggressive. 28 points in the paint in the first quarter. No defense on the ball, no defense off the ball, weak side help was not there. They were the more physical, more aggressive team from start to finish tonight.

Q. Following that up, how do you explain the lack of defense in the middle of the paint?

NATE McMILLAN: I can't. I can't. What I said to our guys before the game, the team that has been the more aggressive team to start the game has won every game in this series. This was a very similar game to the game that we played here, where they came out very aggressive after losing their game. We came out aggressive after dropping a game at home and a very similar game.

We knew that they were going to come with that sense of urgency tonight. They were going to continue to attack even without Giannis in the lineup. That's just how they play. We knew that they would look to go to Lopez more, and they did. They just dominated the paint tonight.

Q. Do you feel Bogey stepped up a little bit tonight with Trae not out there?

NATE McMILLAN: It's just that we as a team, as a group, didn't play well. Again, it started at the beginning of the game. Basically, I don't know how many misses they had in that first quarter, but even on the misses, they rebounded the ball. They beat us to the glass. So they just dominated that first quarter with attacking the paint. Basically, we as a group did not play well enough tonight.

Q. You talk about the lack of aggression. Is there a way to coach that out of a group to get that to play out on the floor?

NATE McMILLAN: We talked about that before the game. A pivotal Game 5 is what we talked about. They came out and they punched us hard early, and we just never recovered. We played on our heels pretty much really that entire first quarter. We're not the aggressors, and we needed to be that group that hit first in this game tonight.

Q. Besides the lack of aggression that you guys would have liked to see from your team, what else did the Bucks do to get Brook going the way they did?

NATE McMILLAN: They played their game. They attacked the paint. If Giannis is in the game, he attacks the paint. Tonight all of them were attacking the paint. It was Jrue. It was Middleton. Lopez post-up, seal. They attack the paint. That's their game. They want to play from the inside out, and if you don't guard the paint, they will punish you in the paint. If you take away the paint, they kick it out for threes. That's their game.

Our last game in Atlanta was our best game of guarding the paint -- only 44 points in the paint. But all the games before that, I think they had 66, 57, 58 points in the paint, and tonight they finished with 66 points in the paint. Again, we did not do a good job of defending the ball, and our weak side did not do a good job of coming over and giving help.

Q. Your team has played some of its best games this year after everybody thought you were dead, whether it's the regular season or playoffs. Is that sort of what you have to count on right now?

NATE McMILLAN: It is. Basically, it is a must-win game for us. That's what it comes down to. That's what this game means if you drop it, as we did tonight, and it's must win for us. It's a one-game season for us. So we know what we have to do. We've got to get back home and get ourselves ready to take care of business at home.

Q. I know Clint has that eye thing going on. Did you feel like he was limited out there visually at all?

NATE McMILLAN: No. We talked to our guys about injuries before the game. If they are out there, they're able to go. He didn't say anything about his eye tonight, so I'm assuming that he was okay.

Q. You mentioned the physicality, going to the paint, getting hit in the mouth. Do you think your guys were just soft tonight?

NATE McMILLAN: I said what I said. You can use whatever term you want on that. They were the more physical team tonight. They were the more aggressive team tonight. Again, we did not do a good job of guarding the ball, guarding the paint, rebounding the basketball. And with that punch early, they really just established their game tonight.

Q. How do you expect them to respond?

NATE McMILLAN: I expect us to respond. It's do or die now.

Q. What will be necessary to get a little bit back of control in the paint the next game?

NATE McMILLAN: Guard. It's as simple as -- this is not complicated. We guarded last game. We've got to guard the ball. We have to be the aggressors. That's what this game is all about, being able to do that in two of our games to win. That's what it comes down to. You've got to guard. You've got to put the ball in the basket.

There's no tricks or anything that's needed. You've got to be the aggressors. You've got to be the team that executes for 48 minutes and do what they did tonight. We've done that before. So we know exactly where we are.

Q. Given that Trae Young was questionable for two games but was able to work out before the game tonight, do you feel like he's trending in the right direction to be ready for Game 6?

NATE McMILLAN: He felt a little better, but not good enough to play. He will, I'm assuming, still be a game-time decision on Saturday.

Q. This is the first time in these playoffs that this team has been down in a series and now an elimination game. How does that change the mindset and preparation the next two days in practices and in meetings as you go into Game 6?

NATE McMILLAN: We'll prepare as we've always done. We dropped this game. We weren't good. And this game, we'll look at video of the things that they did, the things that we didn't do and errors we need to improve on, and get ourselves ready for the game. It's win or go home for us.

So it really doesn't change much. When you drop a game, you find things that you need, areas that you need to correct and be better. That's what we'll do tomorrow.

Q. Can you find any positive on this game, maybe something you can build on going into Game 6?

NATE McMILLAN: Not right now. I'll have to look at video and look this game over and try to find something. But the start, we knew that this is one of the top teams in the league as far as how they start the first and third quarter. That was part of the game plan, that we needed to get off to good starts against this team at the start of these playoffs. We didn't again tonight. They pretty much just dominated that first quarter -- 36 points in the quarter, 28 points in the paint. I think they had seven offensive rebounds. That's just totally getting dominated.

They established what they were going to try to do tonight, and we never really recovered from that.

Q. They scored 66 points in the paint and you had 14 turnovers. Do you think those were the keys of the game tonight?

NATE McMILLAN: Yes, that's always a key for us, to defend the paint and keep the ball in front, rebound the basketball. Those are always keys to the games for us, and we didn't do a good job or a job at all tonight of doing that.