Atlanta Hawks Go On The Road To Defeat Chicago 113-101 in Crucial Eastern Conference Play-In Race Game

Jackson Caudell | Apr 1, 2024

Apr 1, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward De'Andre Hunter (12) shoots against the / Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

The Eastern Conference Play-In Race got a lot more interesting tonight.

After the Hawks lost on Saturday to Milwaukee and Chicago won on Sunday night, the Hawks fell to 1.5 games behind the Bulls for the No. 9 spot in the Eastern Conference play-in race. Atlanta was in a virtual must-win if they wanted to have any hopes of hosting that game and getting the No. 9 spot.

Boy, did the Hawks deliver.

After a rocky start, Atlanta just simply outshot the Bulls from three en-route to a comfortable win over the Bulls and shortening the Bulls lead for the No. 9 seed to just a half game. There was not a single standout performance from the Hawks, who had six players score in double digits, and the Hawks shot 19-40 (48%) from three. It was a complete performance from Atlanta when they needed it most and they have now won five of their last six games and move closer to jumping the Bulls in the standings.

Let's recap a great night in Chicago for the Hawks.

Despite Jalen Johnson coming back from his injury, he did not automatically go to the starting lineup. Atlanta kept their regular starting five, with Dejounte Murray, Bogdan Bogdanovic, VIt Krejci, De'Andre Hunter, and Clint Capela.

Chicago had their regular starting five of Ayo Dosunmu, Coby White, DeMar DeRozan, Alex Caruso, and Nikola Vucevic.

The game started off as poorly as the Hawks could have hoped.

Chicago came out of the gates firing away and took an ealry 11-0 lead over the Hawks. Atlanta quickly responded though with an 11-2 run and at the next timeout, Chicago only led 13-11.

Despite not starting in the game, Jalen Johnson made an impact as soon as he hit the floor. He scored eight points in the first quarter and hit two threes.

The Hawks shot great the entire first half and were 6-12 from three. Atlanta overcame a slow start to lead Chicago 32-30 after the first.

The second quarter saw the Hawks continue to have elite shooting, but they were led by someone you might not expect.

Vit Krejci has had some good moments for the Hawks since coming into the starting lineup, including a 13-point quarter against the Celtics last week, but tonight was his masterpiece, especially in the first half and the second quarter. After hitting a three in the first quarter, Krejci proceeded to go 4-4 in the second quarter and score 12 points. Murray had 11 and he combined with Krejci for 23 of the Hawks second quarter points. The Hawks shot 8-14 from three in the second quarter and took an eight-point lead into the half.

CALL HIM VIT CLARK 🌽

5-5 from 3 in the first half 💰💰💰💰💰 pic.twitter.com/U6tgkjfp5X

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 2, 2024

Aside from the poor 11-0 start, the Hawks dominated the rest of the first half. They went on to shoot 50% from the field and 54% (14-26) from three. Krejci actually led the team with 15 points, going 5-5 from three. Murray had 11 points in the first half.

Chicago is not a great offensive team, but they have had plenty of success against the Hawks this year. In the first half, they shot a respectable 47% from the field, but only 20% from three. DeRozan had 13 points, Coby White had 11, Ayo Dosunmu had 10, and Andre Drummond came off the bench to have a first half double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The second half was more of the same and the Hawks really started to pull away in the third quarter. Atlanta kept Chicago at arm's length and kept a double-digit lead for the quarter and led by as many as 17. It was not hard to see why either. The Hawks ball movement and three-point shooting was fantastic, but their defense deserves a lot of credit tonight, especially in the third quarter.

The third quarter tonight against the Bulls might have been one of the Hawks best defensive quarters of the year. They held the Bulls to just 21 points on 8-28 (29%) shooting from the field and 2-9 (22%) from three.

Atlanta got seven points from Bogdanovic and Capela both and Atlanta led 90-74 going into the final quarter.

The fourth quarter was the only quarter where Atlanta did not shoot well from three, but it did not matter. The Bulls offense could not find anything tonight and Atlanta came away with a 113-101 victory. The highlight of the fourth quarter might have been the early three-pointer from Kobe Bufkin, who made his return to the lineup tonight and got the backup point guard minutes behind Dejounte Murray.

Kobe hits a 3 in his return to the lineup! pic.twitter.com/ef22n3AX0x

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 2, 2024

For the game, Atlanta shot 50% from the field and 48% from three. They hit 12 more threes than the Bulls and that was the biggest difference in the game for Atlanta. Bogdanovic led the Hawks in scoring for the second night in a row, scoring 20 points. Murray (17), Krejci (18, 6-6 from three), Capela (15 points and 11 rebounds), Johnson (11), and Fernando (10) all were in double-digits tonight. The Hawks bench outscored Chicago's 35-20.

Chicago shot 39% from the field and 25% from three. DeRozan led the way with 31 points, White had 22, Dosunmu had 15, and Drummond finished with 13 points and 18 rebounds.

This might be the last regular season meeting between these two teams, but it is likely not the last time these two teams see each other. The next time there will be much-higher stakes and the location of that game is still to be determined.

The Hawks will be back in Atlanta on Wednesday to face the Detroit Pistons at 7:30 p.m.