CHICAGO — Their tired minds, battered bodies and tough opponents didn’t prevent the Hawks from trying to take care of business.
They say they are serious about being Eastern Conference contenders and aimed to back up their talk over two consecutive nights. But after beating the Heat in Miami on Monday night, the Hawks blew a 19-point lead and lost to Chicago 76-74 on Tuesday night at the United Center.
It was the Hawks’ sixth game in eight days, but they were lively from the start against the Bulls, who eliminated them from the Eastern Conference semifinals last spring. The Hawks jumped the Bulls early, but couldn’t survive a furious Bulls rally led by reigning NBA MVP Derrick Rose.
"We were right there with them," Hawks center Al Horford said. "We dominated them for most of the game. Just Derrick Rose happened."
Josh Smith’s lob dunk with 43.6 seconds left gave the Hawks a 73-72 lead, but after Jeff Teague missed two free throws, Rose scored on a drive with 9.9 seconds to go. Horford made one of two free throws to tie the score at 74-74 with 7.7 seconds left, and Luol Deng scored on a cut to the basket with 3.7 seconds to go.
Hawks guard Joe Johnson missed a rushed shot at the buzzer to send the Hawks (4-2) to their second loss in three games.
The Bulls hadn’t played since defeating Memphis on Sunday, but the Hawks had more zip early. The Hawks didn’t have quite enough left late.
"The most important thing for us this early in the season is that we learn from it," Hawks coach Larry Drew said. "We are going to be in these type posistions a lot more times and it's important to learn from it. When you are on the road, 19 points is nothing. It can be chipped away very easily.
"We made some mistakes with that 19-point lead that gave them hope. You can't do that with a good team. Chicago is a very explosive team and with Rose on the floor anything can happen."
The Hawks are off Wednesday before starting a back-to-back-to-back on Thursday against Miami at Philips Arena. After playing at Charlotte on Friday, the Hawks get a rematch with Chicago on Saturday at Philips Arena.
No other team in the league will play at Miami, the defending East champ, and at Chicago in consecutive days. The Hawks handled Miami by making key plays in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t do the same against Chicago.
"Obviously we can play with anybody," Teague said. "We had them down 19. They made some plays. They made shots. Our defense was playing great; they just made some shots. They came back and stole one from us."
The Hawks appeared to be on their way to a comfortable victory when they led 56-47 late in the third quarter. That’s when the Hawks finally sagged and Rose erupted.
Rose scored 16 points, including three 3-pointers, during a 25-6 run that pulled Chicago within 61-59 and ignited the crowd. After Deng’s 3-pointer tied the game at 62-62, Johnson answered with a 3-pointer and Smith made a free throw for a 66-62 Hawks lead.
Horford’s alley-oop dunk and free throw pushed the Hawks’ lead to 69-64, but Deng made four consecutive throws to get Chicago within 69-68 with 2:57 to play. After Smith’s jump shot put the Hawks ahead 71-68, Deng scored on a drive to cut the lead to 71-70 with 1:17 left.
Rose scored on a drive before Smith’s dunk and Teague’s missed free throws with Atlanta leading leading 73-72. The Hawks missed 11 of 25 free-throw attempts, including 6 of 10 in the fourth quarter.
“I don’t know how I missed those free throws,” Teague said. “It happens. It will probably get at me for the rest of the night but I will be all right. It happens in basketball. Guys miss shots all the time. When I get home I will probably watch the game and try to move on from there.”
On the winning play, Deng got behind the Hawks’ defense for a layup.
“We all assumed the ball was going to come back to Rose and we were going to trap," Horford said. "That was a great play by them, by their coach, to take the pressure from Rose and hit Deng on the backdoor. We didn’t expect that at all so that’s a great play by them. I think we just fell asleep on the back line.”
The Hawks built their big lead with energetic defense and Chicago’s cold shooting. The Bulls struggled to score without guard Richard Hamilton (groin) and the Hawks’ pressure forced them into rushed shots and turnovers.
Chicago missed 16 of its first 17 shots in second quarter as the Hawks took control with an 11-3 run for a 38-24 lead. During the spurt the Hawks got clean looks at the basket off crisp ball movement, drove to the basket to draw fouls and scored on alley-oop dunks by Horford and Smith.
Bulls fans grew increasingly grumpy at their team’s inability to score. Chicago made only two of 21 field-goals in the second quarter and needed two free throws from Deng following a ball-handling miscue by Johnson to cut the Hawks’ lead to 38-26 at halftime.
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