In their 136-102 loss to the Bulls (9-17) Wednesday at United Center, the Hawks (6-19) were overpowered in the second half.
Below are some takeaways from the loss:
1. This was a tough scheduling draw for the Hawks, who fell in overtime in Miami Tuesday night only to hop on a plane, fly across the country and play a game the next day. While that may account for the Hawks being a little off-kilter, it doesn’t explain away the 34-point blowout the Bulls dealt them Wednesday night. It was arguably competitive until the second half and then spiraled out of hand — some of that may have been the Hawks’ energy fading, some of it may have been Zach LaVine, who led the Bulls with 35 points, exploding for 17 points in a little less than 10 minutes in the third quarter. “I just feel like we lacked energy,” said Hawks rookie Cam Reddish, who finished with 16 points and six rebounds. “Obviously, it was a back-to-back, not that that’s an excuse. I thought we were just down, energy, and that kind of affected us, towards the, as the game went on.”
2. After a slow start to the season, Alex Len has found a consistent rhythm over his last seven games, shooting 68% from the field over that span (41-for-60). Len kept the Hawks alive through a sluggish first half (in which Trae Young went 2-for-11 from the field) with 15 points in less than 14 minutes, and he led the Hawks in scoring with 17 points total, to go with five rebounds and three assists. Len has made at least one 3-pointer in each of his last three games (making the only one he attempted Wednesday). “He’s finding his rhythm around the basket,” Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce said. “All of his baskets early on came at the rim, dunks off the rolls, dropoffs from penetration and then he’s able to get his 3’s going, he had another 3 tonight. But I think he established himself just by rolling to the rim and being around the basket and getting something easy.”
3. Without John Collins (who is eligible to return Dec. 23 in Cleveland), the Hawks had worked their way to the third-worst defensive rating in the league entering Wednesday’s game (114.3). The Bulls outscored the Hawks 29-19 to take a 14-point lead at halftime, and the game quickly devolved in the second half as the Hawks just couldn’t get stops on defense, a 3-pointer by LaVine putting the Bulls up 91-69 at the 5:13 mark in the third quarter (LaVine was perfect from beyond the arc, making 7 of 7). The Bulls shot 57.4% from the field and 45.8% from 3-point range (compared to the Hawks’ 42.2% from the field and 34.2% from 3). This was the Bulls’ largest margin of victory since the 2017 season. The last time the Bulls had scored 136-plus points was April 14, 2008 in Milwaukee, when they had 151. “I thought they were the more physical team from the start,” Pierce said. “I thought we were moving the ball well early, but it really didn’t come down to offense, it was more about our defense tonight. ... They didn’t feel us, for the most part, and that’s been a point of emphasis.”
4. Compounding their defensive struggles, in the fourth quarter, the Hawks registered nine turnovers, finishing with 23 total (that’s one less than their season-high). It’s not a new issue for the Hawks, as they average the second-most turnovers in the league (17.5 per game), but it made a messy game messier as the Hawks pulled from their bench to finish things out. The Bulls tallied 33 fast-break points. “We need everybody to come in compete and this is not a pretty game, by any stretch, but we need everybody (when) they’re in there to come in and compete and we just couldn’t get that done tonight, and it just became sloppy turnovers, sloppy play, easy basket, no timeouts left,” Pierce said. “It just wasn’t a good finish.”
5. By his standards, Young had a quiet night scoring and couldn’t get much going on offense, finishing with 15 points (4-for-14 from the field, 1-for-6 from 3-point range) and seven turnovers, though he tied his season high in assists with 13. Young struggled in the Hawks’ previous loss to Chicago as well, when he was held to nine points Nov. 6.
By the Numbers
32 (the Bulls moved the ball well, registering a season-high in assists)
Quotable
“I felt like we were just down on ourselves. Weren’t making the right plays, turning the ball over a lot. Just not being ourselves.” (Cam Reddish on the Hawks’ play in the second half)
