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Radmanovic's clutch play boosts Hawks over Bucks

Mar 3, 2012 - 4:01 AM Atlanta, GA (Sports Network) - Vladimir Radmanovic hit a trio of three- pointers in the fourth quarter, including the eventual game-winner with 11.9 seconds remaining, as the shorthanded Hawks beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 99-94, in comeback fashion at Philips Arena on Friday.

Atlanta, which was without All-Star guard Joe Johnson because of knee tendinitis, had ten different players contribute, including Jannero Pargo, who scored 11 points, all in the decisive fourth quarter. Josh Smith led the scoring attack with 24 points and 19 rebounds as the Hawks took their third straight from Milwaukee.

"It was a really good effort," said Pargo about the team's effort off the bench. "I'm not sure if it was the best. We had a lot of games where we were maybe in games, and we just stayed even. Early in the season we were playing really good, and just sustaining our effort, but tonight was a really good effort."

Brandon Jennings led all scorers with 34 points to go with eight assists, while Drew Gooden added a double-double with 24 points and 10 boards for the Bucks, who have lost four of their last five.

Trailing 76-65 after three quarters of play, The Hawks received a spark from Pargo as he started the quarter with a triple and added back-to-back jumpers during a 15-3 run that gave Atlanta a 80-79 lead, its first since early in the second quarter.

Radmanovic hit a big trey to give the Hawks a 92-90 advantage, but Gooden responded with two from the charity stripe to tie the game with 1:16 remaining.

After Smith and Ersan Ilyasova exchanged two-point field goals, Radmanovic buried his third three of the quarter to give Atlanta a 97-94 lead with 11.9 ticks left on the clock.

Gooden received the ball in the low post on the ensuing possession, but Smith came up with a block and Jerry Stackhouse drained both from the free throw line to make it a two-possession game and complete the comeback victory.

"I felt like we had a stretch there where two or three times we didn't scramble back on defense well enough," said Bucks head coach Scott Skiles. "It was just one of those games, again, where we couldn't make the big play and they did. They made the big shots and they were able to stop us enough to cause us to miss shots in the fourth quarter."

Smith scored 11 points in a tightly contested first frame that saw neither team lead by more than four, as the Hawks took a 27-25 edge after one.

Leading by one, Jennings connected on back-to-back three-pointers and added a layup in a 13-2 spurt over the final 3:20 of the second to take a 51-39 lead into the locker room.

After trailing by double-digits for much of the third quarter, Atlanta reeled off eight straight to cut the margin to 69-64 but Jennings responded with the next seven to press the lead back to double-digits heading into the final stanza.

Game Notes

Atlanta will host Oklahoma City on Saturday, while Milwaukee visits Orlando...Bucks top reserve Mike Dunleavy missed the game as he returned to Milwaukee to be with his wife, who is having a baby...The Hawks got 32-of-34 fourth-quarter points from their bench.