After a rough stretch in March, the Hawks have won back-to-back games for the first time in 10 games, with a monumental road win over Chicago. Had Atlanta lost this game, they could have dropped to the 10th spot, eliminating any home-court advantage, and making it that much harder to simply get in the playoffs via the play-in tournament.
With the win, Atlanta tied the season series with the Bulls and staved off a Raptors team which has been gunning for the 8th seed for the better part of a month. Now the Hawks can look forward rather than worry about what is going below them in the standings and prepare for the playoffs.
In a game that saw Atlanta’s leading scorer [Trae Young] and playmaker out, Dejounte Murray and Bogdan Bogdanovic filled both the holes left by Young. Murray finished the game with 9 dimes and 17 points, while ‘Bogi’ had a hyper-efficient 26 points. But it was the bench mob that took the game over for the Hawks. Jalen Johnson, who had a phenomenal game, was seemingly everywhere on the court. Finishing and-1 dunks on one end, swatting shots and jumping passing lanes on the other. This performance shows both the talent and versatility of Jalen Johnson, who absolutely stuffed the stat sheet with 16 points, 2 assists, a block, 3 steals, and 6 rebounds. Onyeka Okongwu continued to make a case for the starting 5 spot, with 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocks in just 19 minutes of playing time.
This game was probably the most consistent the Hawks have played this season, never allowing Chicago to take the lead, and staving off second-half runs from the Bulls. It also helped that Chicago played an extremely sloppy game offensively in the second half. Without a player to pick on for Chicago’s offense, the Hawks were able to stay home and play consistent defense without helping over. Atlanta must get another win against the Washington Wizards Wednesday night to keep Toronto from nabbing the 8th seed. Every game for the rest of this season is a must win for Atlanta, and last night they seemed up to the challenge.
