The Atlanta Hawks fell to 2-1 in the NBA Cup after losing to the Chicago Bulls 136-122 on Friday night. It was a tale of two halves for Atlanta in this contest. The offense struggled when the defense delivered in the first half, and it was the complete opposite story in the second.
The Bulls carry the number-one pace in the league, but the Hawks held them to a manageable 58 points at halftime. However, in the second half, Chicago blitzed Atlanta for a whopping 78 points. The Bulls shot 13-22 from downtown in the final 24 minutes, including 7-11 in the fourth quarter. Zach LaVine, Coby White, and Jalen Smith all hit big triple’s down the stretch to quiet the Hawks’ comeback. The Bulls seemingly answered every Hawks’ run with a three to stop the momentum from going to the visitors’ bench.
Even though the Hawks won the offensive rebounding battle 14-5 and turned the ball over eight fewer times, the three-point differential was too much to overcome. The Bulls made 19 threes compared to Atlanta’s 10. When a team loses the downtown battle by 27 points, it will be difficult to mount any comeback.
Neither team created much separation in the first quarter. When the Bulls went on a 7-1 run, the Hawks countered with an 8-0 stretch. Chicago took a three-point lead to the second quarter. Toward the end of the first half, the Bulls found their rhythm offensively and never lost it. Atlanta struggled to hit shots from the perimeter, and Chicago went up 55-45. The Hawks managed to cut the deficit to eight at halftime.
The Bulls came out of the locker room firing from deep. After White’s rough first-half shooting performance, he and LaVine led the charge to extend Chicago’s lead to 72-59. Bogdan Bogdanović hit back-to-back three’s, but the Bulls immediately countered, as Vučević and Matas Buzelis knocked down triple’s. Both teams scored well in the third frame, but the three gave the Bulls a big advantage. They won the quarter 41-33 and shot 80% from the field in the first nine-and-a-half minutes. The Hawks managed to cut the deficit to 11 with three minutes left, but LaVine cashed in a deep three to put the game out of reach.
LaVine led the Chicago attack with four threes and 26 points, while White and Dosumnu added points each. Nikola Vučević had 18 points, 13 boards, and four blocks, and Josh Giddey collected 18 points with eight dimes. Smith dropped in 13 points and Dalen Terry scored 12 off the bench.
Jalen Johnson and Trae Young both scored 25 points and added 13 rebounds and 13 assists, respectively. Clint Capela continued his strong run with a season-high 21 points and pulled down 11 boards. It was refreshing to see Bogdanović finish 16 points and knock down four triples, while De’Andre Hunter had 14 points. Hunter posterized Smith down the third quarter stretch, which included him scoring nine of the last 11 Hawks’ points in that frame.
Next up, Atlanta faces the Dallas Mavericks at State Farm Arena on Monday night. The Hawks have one more NBA Cup group-stage contest against the Cleveland Cavaliers next Friday.
