Bulls clinch play-in spot, but can't celebrate bad loss to Hawks
Congratulations to the Bulls, they officially clinched a spot in the play-in tournament Tuesday.
But not for anything they did. The Bulls flopped against Atlanta 123-105 at the United Center, but they punched a play-in ticket thanks to Orlando's loss.
The problem is, the loss to Atlanta likely cemented the Bulls in 10th place and a road game next Wednesday in either Atlanta or Toronto. A victory over the Hawks would have clinched the season series and lifted the Bulls into ninth place with the possibility of a home game next week.
"Obviously you don't want to come out flat like this in what I think was the most important game of the year," Zach LaVine said. "They wanted it more than us. Stinks to have that type of result at this point in the season."
LaVine led the Bulls with 26 points, but hit just 1 of 7 attempts from 3-point range. DeMar DeRozan added 21 points on 7 of 17 shooting. As a team, the Bulls shot 22.6% from long range (7-for-31).
This was the type of game that probably played on the Bulls' minds. During the afternoon, the Hawks announced top scorer Trae Young would not play due to an illness. He didn't even make the trip to Chicago.
So it stood to reason this might be an easier game without Young. The Bulls beat the Hawks by 11 with Young in the lineup the last time they visited the United Center.
Instead, Atlanta jumped on the Bulls right away with a quick, mobile lineup. The Hawks hit early 3-pointers to spread the defense, then cruised through open spaces to attack the rim.
"We could be a lot better defensively," coach Billy Donovan said. "It started out with points in the paint, at the basket. There was not enough help, there was not enough second, third rotations that we need to have."
The best example was Atlanta's 6-foot-9 forward Jalen Johnson, who scored a career-high 16 points. Johnson's a second-year pro, Wisconsin native, who flew under the radar after playing just 13 games at Duke during the 2020-21 season due to a foot injury.
But he was a tough matchup in this game with his size and speed. He did a nice job of protecting the rim when the Bulls thought they found a path of the basket. Twice in the fourth quarter, he stole careless Bulls passes and converted for easy baskets. Bogdan Bogdanovich hit 3 early 3-pointers to set the tone, and led Atlanta with 26 points.
"We didn't bring the physicality, the energy needed, we weren't locked in on the defensive end when we needed to," Bulls center Nikola Vucevic said. "From the beginning we were playing from behind."
Once the Hawks built the early lead, this seemed to be an endless string of Bulls' failures. They'd get an open 3-point look or potential layup and the crowd would be ready to explode. But the long shot would miss, the layups would get blocked or roll off the rim and Atlanta usually scored quickly in transition on the other end.
Coby White had his first poor shooting game in a while, going 0-for-4 from 3-point range and 3-for-10 overall. Patrick Williams had a decent game with 15 points, 2 blocks and 2 steals. Alex Caruso played just 19 minutes and seemed to be struggling with his lingering foot injury.
The Bulls (38-41) are down to three games left in the regular season - at Milwaukee on Wednesday, at Dallas on Friday, then home against Detroit on Sunday afternoon. The Bucks also played Tuesday, so the Bulls may not see their complete lineup.
"We understand where we are in the standings," LaVine said. "It would have took a lot for us to play ourselves out of the play-in. We were trying to get a little bit higher seed. It's frustrating, but we've got to look forward to these next three."
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