NBA Twitter was torn about the first half of Game 5 between the Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks.
With Giannis Antetokounmpo sidelined by a hyperextended knee for the Milwaukee Bucks and Trae Young out with a bone bruise in his foot for the Atlanta Hawks, Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals was going to be decided by the supporting casts.
Much like Game 4, the home team used the support of its crowd to build an early lead, but unlike Game 4, the road team came roaring back on Thursday.
Early in Game 5, it felt like we were heading for blowout territory in a hurry. The Bucks jumped out to a 36-22 lead by the end of the first quarter and led by as many as 20 points in the first half, and it didn’t seem like the Hawks had an answer without their star point guard.
But Milwaukee took its eye off the ball in the second quarter, and the Hawks chipped away at the deficit. They only won the quarter by 5 points, but it was enough to send themselves into the break down by only 9 points.
NBA Twitter was confused by the first half of Bucks-Hawks
NBA Twitter is a land of overreaction, so of course there were some fiery takes that wound up looking pretty silly just a few minutes later.
The earliest tweets simply reveled in the Bucks’ dominance to start Game 5, with a number of highlight plays — especially Brook Lopez dunks — standing out.
Lopez, who had 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting in the first half, was a hot topic of discussion for his strong start.
Hawks observers, meanwhile, couldn’t help but notice the struggles of Kevin Huerter and John Collins.
Fortunately for Atlanta, they combined for 9 points in the first half after all, and the Hawks battled back to make the game more interesting again.
We’ll see if the second half can provide a little more clarity on whether this will be a Bucks blowout or a Hawks comeback.