How did the Bucks get back into their first round playoff series against Atlanta?
The same way they got into the playoffs in the first place: with a stifling defensive attitude.
Flustered in the first two games by a Hawks team that seemingly scored at will, Milwaukee put the clamps on, holding Atlanta to just 39 percent shooting in Saturday's 107-89 Game 3 victory at the Bradley Center.
"It was nice to see the guys show up again tonight," head coach Scott Skiles said. "This is the team I'm used to coaching and seeing all season long."
Defense was the Bucks' hallmark during the regular season. Milwaukee finished seventh in points allowed (96), tenth in opponents' field-goal percentage (45.1) and seventh in opponents three-point percentage (34.3).
In the first two playoff games, Milwaukee allowed Atlanta to shoot at a 50 percent clip (79 for 156). The Hawks "big three" of Josh Smith, Al Horford and Joe Johnson made mincemeat of Milwaukee defenders shooting 71.4, 55.5 and 50 percent, respectively, from the field.
Of course it helped that Smith -- who won over no Bucks fans with his earlier comments about there being "nothing to do in Milwaukee" was essentially a non-factor in Game 3, after nearly posting a triple-double in Game 2.
Smith finished with just seven points on 2-of-12 shooting. He and front-court partner Marvin Williams were a combined 3-of-19 from the field for 15 points in Game 3.
A different matchup contributed to that. Unlike the first two games, Skiles assigned Luc Richard Mbah A Moute to cover Smith, after Carlos Delfino struggled to contain him in the first two games.
For the most part, though, that was the only real change to the Bucks' defensive plan. Everything else was a matter of better execution and better intensity.
"We made a couple minor adjustments," Skiles said. "We felt like until we had played the type of game we know we can play on the defensive end, why are we ripping out a page and doing things we wouldn't be comfortable with.
"Now we can look at this game and we can see if there's some things we want to do differently."
What was especially impressive, aside from the Bucks jumping out to a big lead and never really feeling challenged was the play inside. Without Andrew Bogut, the Bucks' interior presence has been weakened, to say the least.
But Saturday, both Kurt Thomas and Dan Gadzuric stepped up to fill the void, combining for 23 rebounds as the Bucks won the battle of the boards, 44-41. Gadzuric's 10 rebounds were a career best in the post-season while Thomas made Horford work for his 10 points.
"Kurt really plugged up the middle for us," Skiles said. "It's no secret they kind of dominated us inside the first couple games."
After a resounding victory, one nagging question remained: can the Bucks keep up the intensity and defensive pressure for the rest of the series, which resumes Monday with Game 4 at the Bradley Center.
The short answer, Skiles said, is "yes."
"If you don't expect it, you're probably not going to get it. We're capable of playing with that kind of intensity every night. That doesn't mean we're going to win every time or that every game is going to be a masterpiece; it means we're capable of doing all the things we did well tonight.
"But when we show up, we can be a very good club."
