Middleton hit 7 of 15 shots, grabbed seven rebounds and finished with three steals. Teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo also shook off a cold start, making 4 of 6 shots in the second half and finishing with 15 points, 15 rebounds, three steals and two blocks.

Dennis Schroder led Atlanta with 18 points and Kent Bazemore made four 3-pointers to finish with 17 but the Hawks shot just 38.4 percent from the floor. Atlanta's Dewayne Dedmon contributed 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Schroder and Bazemore combined for 22 first-half points and each hit a pair of 3-pointers for the Hawks, who led 53-31 at the break.

The Bucks only shot 34 percent in the first half but snapped out of their funk in the third as Jabari Parker capped off a 12-2 run by dunking over Mike Muscala and John Collins to put Milwaukee up 63-53 with 4:19 left in the quarter.

A short hook from Middleton kept the run going. After Atlanta scored four straight, Milwaukee's Eric Bledsoe fed Tyler Zeller for a dunk, Bledsoe knocked down a 3-pointer, and the Bucks went into the fourth with a 74-61 lead.

After being outscored 33-18 in the third, Atlanta opened the final period with an 11-4 run that cut the deficit to six with 7:35 to play.

Bazemore cut the deficit to two on a 3-pointer with 5:20 remaining, and after a Zeller dunk, a 3-pointer from Ersan Ilyasova put the Hawks within a point.

Milwaukee stretched its lead back to three only for Bazemore to hit another from long distance, knotting things up at 84 with 3:30 to play.

Antetokounmpo hit a jumper, then took a feed from Middleton for an easy layup to put Milwaukee back up eight. Ilyasova missed a pair of 3-point attempts in that stretch, and a Bledsoe dunk put Milwaukee on top by six with two minutes to play.

--Field Level Media