Milwaukee Bucks

Preview: Bucks at Hawks

Published Jan. 14, 2017 9:35 p.m. ET

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ATLANTA -- Milwaukee rookie Malcolm Brogdon will make his first professional appearance in his hometown Sunday and he'll do it as a member of the starting lineup.

Brogdon, who has started the last eight games at guard for the Bucks, grew up in the northeast Atlanta suburb of Norcross and led Greater Atlanta Christian School to two state high school championships. Brogdon was Mr. Georgia Basketball and went on to star at the University of Virginia.

He will likely start again Sunday when the Bucks (20-18) visit Atlanta (22-17) in a battle between two teams fighting for the fourth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks have a 1 1/2-game lead over the Bucks as the season nears the midway point.

Brogdon is in the starting lineup until Matthew Dellavedova is healthy enough to return. Dellavedova played 17 minutes on Friday after missing the three previous games with a right hamstring strain.

"(Brogdon) has done quite well," Milwaukee coach Jason Kidd said. "He's starting until (Dellavedova) gets back into the swing of things. We'll address that here in a week or so. They are two guys who put the team first. As for Malcolm, he just wants to play. He deserves to play."

Brogdon had 13 points, six rebounds and five assists in Friday's 116-108 win over Miami. His clutch 3-pointer with 1:08 remaining helped the Bucks post a big road win at San Antonio on Jan. 10. He has scored in double figures 20 times.

Milwaukee won its second straight on Friday, with Jabari Parker scoring 24 and Giannis Antetokounmpo getting 19 points and eight rebounds. Antetokounmpo was healthy after missing a game and being limited to nine minutes in the last game because of illness.

Atlanta will try to rebound after having its seven-game winning streak broken in a 103-101 loss to Boston on Friday. The Celtics prevailed when Isaiah Thomas hit a 3-pointer with two seconds left to negate the Hawks' 20-point comeback.

Paul Millsap and Tim Hardaway Jr. each scored 23 points in the loss.

"It was a heck of a game," Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer said. "We'll learn from it. We'll be better going forward."

The Hawks are at full strength now that veteran Mike Dunleavy has joined the team. The forward was acquired from Cleveland in the Kyle Korver trade and had six points and five rebounds in 14 minutes against the Celtics in his Atlanta debut.

The Hawks and Bucks are meeting for the third time this season. Atlanta won 107-100 at home and prevailed 114-110 in Milwaukee, when the Hawks erased a 20-point halftime deficit.

Atlanta has won three straight and six of its last eight against Milwaukee. The final game will be March 24 in Milwaukee.

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