ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Despite playing shorthanded and getting outworked, the Milwaukee Bucks found a way to leave Philips Arena with a win.
Michael Redd scored 16 of his 25 points in the second half, leading the Bucks to a 106-94 victory over the Hawks.
The Bucks were playing the second end of a back-to-back without two of their better offensive players in Tim Thomas (ankle) and Toni Kukoc (back).
"As we talked about before the game, we were low in numbers, but everybody had to step up and play some minutes and really help us win this ballgame and pull it out," Bucks coach Terry Porter said.
Atlanta tried its best to take advantage of the depleted and tired Bucks, enjoying a commanding 56-31 rebounding advantage, including a 21-2 cushion on the offensive boards. It also held a lopsided 27-2 edge in second-chance points.
Hawks center Theo Ratliff thought the reason his club lost was poor defense.
"(I am not surprised) with that defense we were playing," said Ratliff, who had 14 rebounds. "If guys can't stop guys on the pick-and-roll, stop dunks when you have rotations, you give guys confidence when you let guys who are not shooters dunk."
One of the reasons for the big numbers was the Hawks shot just 39 percent (35-of-88). They also committed 19 turnovers that the Bucks turned into 23 points.
Redd paced the attack and reserves Dan Gadzuric and Erick Strickland each added 15 points for the Bucks, who led virtually throughout.
Led by Gadzuric, who made all six of his shots, and Strickland, the Bucks had a 49-21 cushion in bench points.
"We're playing for a purpose," Redd said. "The bench played well. This really was a team effort tonight."
"Milwaukee's bench came in and gave them a huge lift," Hawks coach Terry Stotts said. "I told our guys before the game that one of the strengths that they had was their bench and depth, with Damon Jones, Dan Gadzuric and Erick Strickland. They were very effective and hit some tough shots and got rebounds and played with a lot of energy."
Redd made 11-of-19 shots from the field and three of the Bucks' seven 3-pointers. Milwaukee shot 51 percent (42-of-83) and went 15-of-21 from the free-throw line.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored 26 points and Jason Terry added 23 for Atlanta, which got within 94-90 with less than four minutes remaining.
But Redd scored five points in a 9-0 run, giving the Bucks a double-digit lead with just over a minute left.
