The Chicago Bulls beat the Atlanta Hawks 136-126 on Monday at State Farm Arena. The Bulls sit in the ninth seed- two games ahead of Atlanta in the tenth. With this victory, Chicago wins the season series and owns the tiebreaker if both teams finish with the same record this season.
Both squads scored their first six points in the paint to start the contest until Torrey Craig broke the three-point seal on the rims. Saddiq Bey bullied his way to the bucket inside, and Trae Young and Dejounte Murray knocked down triples for an early 8-0 Hawks run for an 18-11 lead. The Bulls went big, playing Nikola Vucevic and Andre Drummond together against the smaller Atlanta. Onyeka Okongwu was up to the challenge, blocking Drummond’s hook shot and staying out of foul trouble. Surprisingly, the Hawks increased their lead during this stretch. Bogdan Bogdanović came off the bench on fire with back-to-back threes, extending Atlanta’s lead to 31-18. However, the Bulls closed the quarter on a 7-0 run cutting the Hawks’ lead to 33-26.
Chicago continued its momentum, extending the run to 14-2. They cut the deficit to two points before Bogdanović and De’Andre Hunter did damage from deep. After Bogdanovic’s three, Hunter knocked down two triples from the left corner, the second being a four-point play, to put the Hawks up 47-37. Hunter played well throughout the game and started 3-4 from beyond the arc. Similar to the first frame, the Bulls’ offense got hot to end the second quarter. They finished with a 12-2 run behind Ayo Dosunmu’s 13-point quarter to grab a 60-59 lead at halftime. Bogdanović and Hunter led the Hawks with 13 points each, While Dosunmu and DeMar DeRozan scored 17 and 14, respectively.
Coming out of the locker room, Young received a technical foul for arguing a questionable non-call when Craig seemed to foul Murray in the backcourt. After a quiet first half, Vucevic went to work in the low post with his patented turn-around jumpers and hook shots, giving the Bulls a 71-68 advantage. After a great block on Julian Phillips in transition, Hunter threw a lookahead pass too high for Saddiq Bey but made up for it with a three on the next possession. In an impressive sequence with four minutes left in the frame, Dalen Terry stole the ball from Murray and knocked down a three after some outstanding drive-and-kick basketball from the Bulls. Chicago held a 90-83 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The Bulls scored 24 points in the paint and forced the Hawks into six turnovers compared to their zero in the third frame.
Hunter and Bogdanović continued to lead Atlanta’s second-half comeback attempt. Hunter was everywhere on the floor to start the fourth. He stole the ball for two points in transition, then blocked a shot, which led to a monster Jalen Johnson slam to ignite the crowd. Bogdanović went on a personal 5-0 run to make it a one-possession game, but Dosunmu dunked on Bruno Fernando to shift the momentum back to Chicago. Every time the Hawks made it close, the Bulls countered with a clutch bucket to keep Atlanta in the rearview mirror. After Bogdanović hit his sixth triple of the night to bring the deficit to 112-111, Craig knocked down a silencer three on the next possession. Atlanta strung together a 6-0 run with under two minutes left, but clutch buckets from DeRozan and Coby White sealed the Chicago victory.
The Hawks’ backcourt combined to shoot just 10-31 from the field. Young finished with 19 points and 14 assists, while Murray totaled 17 points, nine assists and five rebounds. Okongwu posted an 11-point, 12-rebound double-double, and Johnson scored 13 points and collected eight boards. Hunter and Bogdanović led Atlanta off the bench with 23 and 28 points, respectively. Hunter added six rebounds and two blocks, while Bogdanović shot 11-16 from the field, including six triples.
Dosunmu dropped a career-high 29 points on 12-18 shooting, and DeRozan added 29 of his own. Vucevic had a big second half finishing with 24 points and 11 boards, while White hit shots down the stretch, totaling 20 points and seven assists.
The Hawks’ final game before the All-Star break comes on Wednesday against the Charlotte Hornets at the Spectrum Center. Atlanta looks to go into the break with momentum to fuel a run to the postseason in the last two months of the campaign.
