The Atlanta Hawks (32-27) defeated a depleted Chicago Bulls team (30-26) 103-88 yesterday night at the Philips Arena, moving up in the Eastern Conference standings in what was a much needed win for the fledgling Hawks.
A loss would have been disastrous for Atlanta who had lost the last three in a row as they’ve struggled to maintain their position in the ever-so tight Eastern Conference.
The Bulls came to Atlanta with a roster riddled with injuries: Jimmy Butler (knee), Joakim Noah (shoulder) and Derrick Rose (hamstring) all sat out in the matchup.
Both Butler and Rose shot around during the early pre-game warm-ups but were clearly not in playing condition, shooting without leaving the ground.
Atlanta sought to dominate via the three-point game early on. The Hawks needed all they could muster elsewhere on offense as they struggled shooting from beyond the arch.
Both teams finished the first half 3-30 (10 percent) from downtown. In the second half, the Hawks were able to recalibrate to shoot slightly better.
The Hawks were able to get most our of their starting line up involved on offense as Paul Millsap (12 points), Kent Bazemore (17 points), Al Horford (18 points) and Jeff Teague (19 points) all played key roles in the victory. Kyle Korver’s struggles continued as he played almost no role in the win, performing poorly from the three (1-6) and scoring only five points on the night.
However, with such offensive balance, the Hawks won every quarter and were able to overcome Korver’s lack of impact.
“Being able to come here tonight, to get a win like that, it’s big for us,” Horford said following the game. “Every time we play [Chicago] I feel like for us, it’s a must win.”
The Bulls' Doug McDermott (20 points) and Pau Gasol (16 points) played significant roles for their team’s offense even though both players are usually custom to playing supportive roles on their usually high powered offense.
“We need to be able to put together better effort with the guys that we do have,” Gasol said after the game. “We didn’t execute the game plan we intended.”
Taj Gibson echoed a similar sentiment following the game, saying that he believes the team has enough talent to “scrap out more wins” but was unable to pull it together in Atlanta.
Following the game, the Hawks locker room was abuzz with the term “must win.” Indeed, the team could not have afforded to lose this game especially with a two-week road trip around the corner.
“Tonight was big for us,” Hawks Head Coach Mike Budenholzer said in his post game conference. “We had a tough three games coming out of the break, some of which were close. To have two to three days off and come out here with a win is big, and we got one more on Sunday — that’s going to have to be a similar mindset.”
The Bulls will be at home to play the Portland Trail Blazers tonight at 8 p.m, while the Hawks will host the Charlotte Hornets tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 p.m. at the Phillips Arena.
