Hawks stop Bulls’ winning streak at 6
Few teams have been tripped up by underestimating the heart of the Atlanta Hawks, but it may have actually happened to the Bulls on Saturday night.
Coming off an impressive win at Orlando the night before, the Bulls took the floor in Atlanta as if they were expecting a poor effort from the opponent.
It was a reasonable line of thinking. The Hawks were not only playing their third game in three nights, they endured four overtime periods over the previous two contests.
Once the ball was tossed, Atlanta seemed to be on energy overload — at least compared to the Bulls.
The Hawks jumped to an early 12-1 advantage and, except for a brief surge in the second quarter, were never threatened in a 109-94 victory at Philips Arena.
“You’ve got to give them a lot of credit,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “I thought they came out with a lot of intensity. They were up into us. I thought we were dancing with the ball. When you dance with the ball, you’re not going to get a good shot against these guys. The ball has to move.”
The Bulls (7-2) trailed by as many as 17 points in the first quarter. Then Taj Gibson and the reserves led a comeback that brought the visitors within 45-43 with 4:09 left in the first half.
No problem. The Bulls weathered the storm, right? Not quite. The Hawks drained 4 baskets from 3-point range in the next three minutes and led 63-45 at half.
Midway through the first quarter, Atlanta lost small forward Marvin Williams with a sprained ankle. But that turned into terrible news for the Bulls when his replacement, journeyman Vladimir Radmanovic, went 5-for-5 from 3-point range.
As a team, Atlanta (6-3) was an uncanny 8-for-9 on 3-pointers in the first half and 9-for-12 through four quarters.
The Bulls made a few minor runs but eventually fell behind 79-50 with 5:52 left in the third, and the six-game winning streak essentially was over.
“In this league, you usually get what you deserve,” Thibodeau added. “This is the NBA. You’ve got to come every night. You’ve got to bring great intensity, and if you let down just a little bit, this is what happens.”
On Tuesday at the United Center, the Bulls trailed Atlanta by 19 points late in the third quarter and rallied to win, but that result may have just inspired the Hawks to soar higher in the rematch.
“Our backs were against the wall and we needed to get this win,” Hawks center Al Horford said. “We really gave everything we had out there, more than before.”
With the Bulls’ starters extremely ineffective, guard John Lucas III was the top scorer with 16 points. Kyle Korver scored 13 points, rookie Jimmy Butler had 12 (all in the fourth quarter), and Omer Asik grabbed 13 rebounds.
Among the starters, Carlos Boozer scored 12 points, but the Bulls were outscored by 39 points during the 29 minutes he was on the floor.
Derrick Rose had 8 points, 6 assists, 5 turnovers and was minus-33. Joakim Noah finished with 1 point and 4 rebounds.
Josh Smith led Atlanta with 25 points.
Rip Hamilton sat out for the fourth time in five games with a groin strain. Backup point guard C.J. Watson took his left arm out of its sling but missed his fourth straight game with an elbow sprain.
mmcgraw@dailyherald.com