Will Bulls, Hawks have anything left for Sunday's rematch?
The phrase, "What can you do for an encore?" is usually a rhetorical question.
It's literal in the case of the Bulls and Atlanta Hawks. They'll follow up Friday's record-setting, four-overtime pointfest by playing a rematch on Sunday afternoon at the United Center.
Will there be any energy left to give? The Bulls might be at a disadvantage in that category, since Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen and Otto Porter Jr. all played at least 54 minutes.
Atlanta rookie Trae Young logged 56 minutes. The player with the second-most minutes for the Hawks was actually 42-year-old Vince Carter, who played 45, scored 13 points and somehow walked off the court without the help of a stretcher.
Atlanta ended up short-handed because second-leading scorer John Collins missed the game with an illness, Omari Spellman and Kevin Huerter left the game with injuries, then center Dewayne Dedmon and forward Taurean Prince fouled out. Kris Dunn was the only Bulls player to foul out.
"Tiring. That's the only words I can say, tiring as heck," LaVine said after the game, according to bulls.com. "I've never been part of something that long."
At least the Bulls got some reward for their effort, winning the game 168-161 behind 47 points by LaVine and 31 each by Markkanen and Porter. Young piled up 49 points and 16 assists for the Hawks.
"There's really no winner in this one, no loser in this one," Atlanta coach Lloyd Pierce said. "Four overtimes, you're just scrambling, and somebody's got to go down."
This one will go into the record books as the third-highest scoring game in NBA history. It's the most points the Bulls have ever scored or allowed. They also set franchise records for 3-pointers made (21) and attempted (48) in a game. The previous marks were 18 and 41.
The highest-scoring game in NBA history is one of those Wilt Chamberlain, Steph Curry 3-pointer type of records - it may never be approached. Detroit beat Denver in double overtime 186-184 on Dec. 13, 1983.
So the record is 370 total points. Second place is 337, when San Antonio beat Milwaukee 171-166 in 3OT on Mar. 6, 1982.
The highest-scoring game that didn't go to overtime was when Golden State beat coach Paul Westhead's run-and-gun Denver Nuggets 162-158 on opening night of the 1990-91 season. That's roughly eight months after Westhead took Loyola Marymount to the Elite Eight with the same fast-paced style.
Young was also part of history, becoming the first NBA rookie to produce at least 40 points and 15 rebounds in a game. Only two other rookies ever posted a 40-10 game, Michael Jordan and LeBron James.
"That was a fun game to play in," Young said. "Probably one of the most fun games I've played in my career," Young said. "I'm proud of the way we fought even though we came up short."
Getting back to the Bulls, they showed some nice resiliency to win Friday's game, but they also blew two fourth-quarter leads thanks to poor decisions and careless turnovers. LaVine, in particular, made some bad plays under pressure when an easy pass to an open teammate was right in front of him. LaVine did score 21 of the Bulls' 44 points during the four overtimes.
"Seemed like nobody wanted to win, but we finally were able to get over the hump," Porter said in the locker room. "You are so tuned into the game you are not really thinking about anything, just trying to get the 'W.' But after that third overtime it was, 'OK, how many are we going to go tonight?'"
The Bulls have now won five of their last six games and are 6-2 in games Porter has played since arriving in a trade from Washington.
Coach Jim Boylen said one of his original goals, since they were playing Atlanta twice in a row, was to treat this like a playoff series, where you play the same team multiple times. Most of the Bulls have never experienced the NBA playoffs.
"Obviously, I haven't been in the playoffs yet. But I bet it's probably like that," Markkanen said Friday. "We were just going back and forth. It was a lot of fun out there tonight."
Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls
Setting the points high
Highest-scoring games in NBA history
370 - Detroit 186, Denver 184 2OT; Dec. 13, 1983
High scorer: Kiki Vandeweghe 51
337 - Spurs 171, Bucks 166 3OT; Mar. 6, 1982
High scorer: George Gervin 50
329 - Bulls 168, Atlanta 161 4OT; Mar. 1, 2019
High scorer: Trae Young 49
320 - Golden State 162, Denver 158; Nov. 2, 1990
High scorer: Chris Mullin 38
318 - Denver 163, San Antonio 155; Jan. 11, 1984
High scorer: Kiki Vandeweghe 50
318 - Phoenix 161, New Jersey 157 2OT; Dec. 7, 2006
High scorer: Steve Nash 42
Source: basketball-reference.com