Bucks' season ends as Atlanta whips them in Game 7

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ATLANTA - Al Horford had 16 points and 15 rebounds, as the Atlanta Hawks moved on to the second round with a 95-74 home win over the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 7 of their Eastern Conference quarter-final series.

Jamal Crawford had 22 points and six assists off the bench for the Hawks, who were playing in a Game 7 for the fifth time since moving to Atlanta and for the third consecutive post-season.

Atlanta was 0-3 in Game Sevens before breaking through in the first round versus Miami last season. The third-seeded Hawks will play second-seeded Orlando in the conference semi-finals, starting Tuesday.

The off-season began today for the Milwaukee Bucks – and so did the questions about whether guard John Salmons will return. The 30-year-old Salmons has a five-point-eight million dollar player option for next season. But he could turn it down and either seek a new contract with more money from the Bucks – or test the free-agent waters in July.

He says he’ll talk to his agent, but he calls Milwaukee a “great option” for next season. Salmons, an eight-year veteran, was traded from Chicago in February to plug the gap left by the season-ending knee injury to Michael Redd. And Salmons was a big reason the Bucks went 22-and-8 to close out the regular season, and make the playoffs for the first time in four years. But Salmons fizzled a bit during the seven-game series with the Atlanta Hawks. He averaged 17 points a game for the series.

Salmons says his Milwaukee experience has been great. He said the Bucks were probably the best in his career at playing 100-percent as a team. He said there were not a lot of personal agendas, and everybody knew their roles and played together.

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