Hawks’ inconsistencies flare in loss to Bulls
CHICAGO — The Hawks played like the worst and the best versions of themselves on Friday night against the Bulls.
Their worst led to a 46-28 deficit early in the second quarter. That included eight turnovers and going 11-of-25 from the field in the first 14 minutes of game time. They also allowed the Bulls to shoot near 50% from 3 in that span, including back-to-back 3s to open the second quarter.
“I think we didn’t play with force at the beginning of the game, and that impacts the defense,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said on Friday. “It’s kind of a complementary basketball with how your offense impacts your defense, what we get where we’re not forceful defensively, or active, and we’re not running. So we know the things we need to have in the front of our minds to focus on, and when we don’t do that, we don’t play well.”
Then they looked like the better version of themselves with 8:45 to play in the second quarter. Veteran guard CJ McCollum hit a 3, just the team’s third made 3-pointer of the game.
It began a 15-5 run that allowed the Hawks to cut their deficit to seven heading into halftime. When they returned, they played with force and it allowed them to tie the game at 83 after a running layup from Lu Dort with 40.7 seconds to play in the third quarter.
But as they rotated in a new lineup, the Bulls went on another run and pushed the deficit to 11.
The Hawks leaned heavily on McCollum, Dort, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Aaron Wiggins and Jock Landale in an eight-minute stretch.
All five players have played some good basketball through the first 13 games of the season. But as a unit, they have struggled to give the Hawks productive minutes. Per Cleaning the Glass, that lineup has an efficiency differential (points scored per 100 possessions minus points allowed per 100 possessions) of -42.5 over 41 possessions they’ve played together this season.
Of course, that unit’s run is just one of the many reasons the Hawks fell 125-117 to the Bulls in overtime, who currently have the league’s fourth-worst win percentage.
The Hawks just did not play well and too many mistakes snowballed into a loss.
They had multiple chances to win in regulation after tying the game at 110 with 1:08 to play in the fourth.
With 35.6 to play in regulation, they stopped a Norman Powell midrange jumper. But they didn’t get out and run, leaving Jalen Johnson in a two-on-one situation. With a defender in front, Johnson opted to kick to Alexander-Walker on the wing for a 3.
But Alexander-Walker’s shooting woes from earlier in the game continued. The ball hit the front of the rim and the Hawks hadn’t gotten into position, giving the Bulls room to box them out and keep them off the offensive glass.
Then they got another stop when Powell called for a switch onto McCollum. The Bulls veteran dribbled deep to the baseline and tried to bump McCollum off the spot. But McCollum held his ground and forced Powell to go up with the shot, which rimmed out.
They had their best chance to close out the game after Wiggins subbed in and cut to the basket off a screen from Johnson. Wiggins got wide-open and had a clear look at the rim. But the ball bounced off his hands and went out of bounds.
“I didn’t feel like we were tired,” Snyder said when asked if the effort to rally dampened the Hawks’ focus down the stretch.
“Powell hit some tough shots in the overtime, which we defended pretty well. We made a couple of adjustments that our guys executed that I thought were really good. I think as much as anything, you put yourself in a position where you got to make a lot of plays, and we made enough to get where we were. But it was kind of that game that goes back and forth, and it went back too many times.”