For the first time since October 25, Trae Young played in from of the home crowd at State Farm Arena on a Sunday afternoon matinee game against the Chicago Bulls.
In a continuing theme, the Hawks went down
eleven within the opening minutes. Chicago started 8-for-10 from the field, and once again the Hawks defense looks like they had never played as a unit before.
Eventually, the Hawks woke up and strung together a couple of stops to stop the bleeding. Neither team covered themselves in glory on the defensive side of the ball, so it looked like this would be a high-octane battle.
Atlanta at least had the firepower to match Chicago blow for blow. Onyeka Okongwu had a lot to say with 15 opening quarter points (a career-high for a quarter), including these three:
Trae Young continues to be crafty coming off high screens:
After one quarter, the teams were knotted at 38-38.
Vit Krejci continued his incredible shooting season, hitting his first three attempts of the game. Then the Frenchman joined the Czech with his third triple of the game by the second quarter:
But the Hawks still struggled to slow down the relentless Bulls offense, and the two teams traded leads throughout the second quarter.
Jalen Johnson took a hard fall on a layup attempt, and he left down the tunnel to get checked out after attempting two free throws. Thankfully, he checked back into the game with around four minutes remaining.
Unfortunately, the Hawks finished the first half the same way they started: by absolutely bleeding points on defense. It was an ugly display, as the Bulls were able to find open threes and blow by Hawks defenders like they weren’t even there.
At halftime, the Hawks trailed 83-73. Chicago shot 73% from two, 45% from three, and posted an offensive rating of 152. If the Hawks give up anything like that in the second half, their hopes for this game are dead in the water.
Atlanta got a few stops early in the third quarter, but they were still few and far between. But Jalen Johnson got going on the offensive end to narrow the margin, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker woke up to help the Hawks tie things up at 102-102:
Later in the third quarter, Vit Krejci dislocated a finger on a rebound attempt. But he toughed it out with help from the trainers and stayed in the contest.
After three quarters, the Bulls held a slim edge, 116-115.
Both sets of defenses finally showed up after 36 minutes (briefly anyway), but the Bulls were able to claw ahead. The Hawks tried mightily to catch up, but the hot shooting of Matas Buzelis and others continually kept them in front.
With under two minutes left to play, the Hawks were down three, managed a stop, and a Johnson turnaround in the lane put them within one. But then a wide open Giddey three followed by an Okoro take down the lane seemingly gave the Bulls the victory for good.
But then a three by Young, free throws by Alexander-Walker, and a desperation three from Johnson gave the Hawks hope with 4.6 seconds left. Buzelis split the pair on the ensuing intentional foul, but a Young leaner at the buzzer went awry.
The Hawks fell 152-150. Young and Johnson both topped 35 points, but the Hawks allowed an unacceptable 138 offensive rating to slump to their fourth loss in their last five.
The Hawks next see the same opponent at home this Tuesday.
