If there's one thing Jason Kidd has preached all season long it has been energy and effort. Based off his postgame comments, it was clear the first-year coach of the Milwaukee Bucks was not pleased with the performance his team gave Monday.
The Eastern Conference-leading Atlanta Hawks controlled things from start to finish Monday, sending the Bucks to a 101-88 defeat at Phillips Arena.
With eight games to play, Milwaukee leads Miami by 1 1/2 games for the sixth seed, while eighth-place Boston and ninth-place Brooklyn are just three games back of the Bucks.
1 big moment: With the Bucks within five points with 6:43 left in the third quarter, Kyle Korver hit three 3-pointers during a personal 11-0 run over 65 seconds that allowed Atlanta to seize control of the game at 67-51.
2 top performers: DeMarre Carroll scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to increase Atlanta's lead from eight to 13. The sixth-year forward finished with a game-high 23 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two blocks.
Back in the city he called home for eight seasons, Zaza Pachulia led the Bucks with 17 points and 13 rebounds. It was Pachulia's 14th double-double of the season and his seventh in the month of March.
3 key stats: Milwaukee has now lost 11 consecutive road games. Its last road win came Feb. 2 in Toronto. The Bucks have just three road contests remaining, with the next one coming Friday in Boston.
After going 2 for 15 from beyond the arc in a loss to Golden State on Saturday, the Bucks hit just 4 of their 17 3-point attempts Monday. Atlanta had a down shooting night but still outscored Milwaukee by 15 points from distance.
The struggles of point guard Michael Carter-Williams continued Monday, as he scored just four points on 1-of-6 shooting with five assists and four turnovers in 21 minutes.
Said: "We didn't play hard enough tonight. We had another no-show tonight. We have to find a way to get back to playing hard as a group. Right now we have two or three guys playing hard. We need everybody to play hard." -- Kidd
Chicago will be well rested, as it last played Saturday against New York. The Bulls are 45-29, 2 1/2 games behind Cleveland in the Central Division and one game ahead of Toronto in the race for the No. 3 seed.
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