The Bulls returned the favor to the Hawks and handed them a 110-108 loss at the buzzer Wednesday at State Farm Arena. The win came 10 days after the Hawks won in dramatic fashion on the same floor.
Here are five observations:
1. The first half left much to be desired as the Hawks trailed by as many as 18 points. However after a strong second half, the Hawks led by eight points, 100-92, with 5:00 remaining.
And then things got dramatic.
The Bulls went on a 6-0 run on layups from Patrick Williams, Andre Drummond and Zach LaVine. Holding a two-point lead, it appeared the Hawks would hang on after DeMar DeRozen appeared to foul out after contesting a Trae Young jumper. The Bulls challeged the call and it was successful. DeRozen would remain in the game.
The Bulls took two two-point leads on baskets by LaVine. The Hawks answered each with dunks from Onyeka Okongwu on assists from Young. The final came with four seconds left to tie the game at 108-108.
On the ensuing possession, DeRozen’s air-balled an attempt. It bounced off the Hawks’ John Collins underneath the basket and found teammate Ayo Dosunmu, who scored with .1 seconds remaining.
The dramatics avenged a 123-122 overtime loss to the Hawks on Dec. 11 when AJ Griffin scored on an alley-oop pass from Jalen Johnson at the buzzer.
2. The cold weather was not supposed to blow into Atlanta until the weekend, but it seemed to hit the Hawks (16-16) early. The team made just 8 of 23 shots in the first quarter. Seven of the eight players in the rotation scored fewer than five points by halftime.
Young kept the team afloat in the first half, putting up 29 points on 7 of 14 shooting, including 6 of 9 from 3-point range.
Unfortunately for the Hawks, it caught up to Young, who cooled off in the second half. He ended the night with 34 points, six rebounds and six assists.
“I was just in rhythm,” Young said. “The first couple of shots went in and I’ve just been working, just trying to get my rhythm and been doing the same routine and just keep going.”
3. In addition to the team’s frigid start on the offensive end, it also struggled to contain the Bulls, who were on the second night of a back-to-back. The Hawks gave up 61 points in the first half, with all eight players in their rotation scoring.
The Bulls made 55% of their overall shots and knocked down four of their eight 3-point attempts in the first quarter alone. They then scorched the Hawks’ second unit in the second quarter as they made 60% of their overall baskets.
“I thought we just played flat when we came out, gave up 61 points in that first half and just was playing at a slow pace,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. “And we wanted to force the pace makes or misses. We weren’t getting a lot of stops in that first quarter or first half.”
The Hawks are 5-9 when they give up 60 or more points in the first half and 4-12 when their opponent leads heading into halftime.
4. After allowing the Bulls to get ahead by as many as 18, the Hawks’ offense began to click when they returned after halftime. The Hawks outscored the Bulls 57-49 in the second half.
Dejounte Murray and Onyeka Okongwu combined for 17 of the Hawks’ 26 points in the third quarter. Bogdan Bogdanovic and Griffin hit key 3-pointers.
“We played with more urgency in the second half,” Okongwu said. “The first half we were more lacksadaisacal. You know getting the fast break layups, dunks, not a lot of defense being played but in the second half we buckled down.”
5. For the second night in a row, the Hawks held out one of their more clutch players in Griffin in the closing minutes of the game. It worked out luckily for them on Monday in their 126-125 win over the Magic. Not so much against the Bulls.
The rookie came up big for the Hawks in the overtime win over the Bulls, as well as several weeks before in an overtime win over the Raptors. But in the Hawks last two games, Griffin has not been in the mix late in the game.
Instead, the Hawks turned the experience of their veterans to close out the game and find a way to slow DeRozan and the Bulls.
“They get the ball in the hands of DeRozan and we know what he’s capable of doing and he delivered tonight,” McMillan said. “We wanted to try to get some traps on him and he did a good job of getting in the middle of the floor and making it hard, more difficult to trap when you got shooters on either side of him. So they did a good job of executing and they got the matchups that they wanted and they won the matchup.”
Griffin made a career-high four 3-pointers and made 5 of 7 shots from the floor. He ended the night with 14 points.
Stat to know
29.2% -- The Hawks held the Bulls to 29.2% shooting from 3-point range (7-24). It’s the 12th time this season the Hawks have held an opponent to shooting less than 30% from long range, tied for the most such games in the NBA.
Quotable
“I felt like it was good defense. You know DeRozan, that’s what he does -- mid-range maestro. Especially that last one lucky bounce went in. Tip your hat off to him.” -- Onyeka Okongwu about defending the Bulls final six mid-range jump shots.
Up Next
The Hawks wrap their homestand against the Pistons on Friday.
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