Atlanta Hawks Season Ends WIth 131-116 Loss to Chicago Bulls In NBA Play-In Tournament
One of the most frustrating seasons in recent memory for the Atlanta Hawks is now over.
Atlanta came into tonight's game vs the Chicago Bulls without three of their most important players, but I am not sure that it would have mattered with the way the Hawks played tonight. The Bulls, who have a below-average offense in the league, torched the Hawks poor defense all night and Atlanta could not find any answers. Atlanta was short-handed, but got basically nothing of substance from their bench, De'Andre Hunter was the worst player on the court tonight (in a night where he could not afford to do that), and the Hawks had no answers for Coby White or DeMar DeRozan. It was a bad ending to what has been a really frustrating season for the Hawks.
Atlanta now heads into one of the most pivotal offseasons they have faced in some time. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered for this franchise going forward and there is a chance that this team looks quite different when we see them next.
Atlanta went with Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, Bogdan Bogdanovic, De'Andre Hunter, and Clint Capela as the starters for this game.
Chicago started Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, Alex Caruso, De'Mar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic.
Let's recap the final night of the season for the Hawks.
It was a bit of a methodical start to the game for both teams, but things would turn into an ugly nightmare for the Hawks towards the end of the quarter.
Two of the keys for Atlanta tonight were three-point shooting and keeping Hunter out of foul trouble and very early on, those things were working against the Hawks. Atlanta missed their first couple of threes and Hunter got an early foul against Coby White, leading to a pair of free throws for Chicago.
Murray and Capela scored the first ten points of the game for the Hawks and Capela also pulled in three rebounds. At the first timeout, Chicago led 13-10 and the two teams were 1-7 combined for three.
Garrison Matthews was the first player off of the bench tonight for the Hawks and the rotation was one of the things that was was going to be watched closely in the first half. Matthews picked up two fouls in the quarter and head coach Quin Snyder would actually go with a nine-man rotation for Atlanta. Wesley Matthews, Bruno Fernando, and Mouhamed Gueye also saw minutes.
Chicago led the Hawks 24-20 and then they went on a monster 16-2 run and made the Hakws look completely inept on both ends of the court. They scored a season-high 40 points in the first quarter and led Atlanta 40-22.
The three-point shooting was going to be crucial for this game for Atlanta and it could not have started off any worse, as the Hawks were 1-9 from three. Murray and Capela combined for 19 points, but every other Hawks had just three point, including just one from Young.
Chicago shot 59% from the field in the first quarter and 44% from three. DeRozan had 11 points in the quarter.
As awful as the first quarter was for Atlanta, they found a way to claw back in the game with an excellent performance in the second quarter.
The offense for the Hawks awakened and while they were still struggling to stop the Bulls on the defensive end, they were shooting lights out.
They began the quarter on a 14-0 run to cut the lead to four and then, Caruso was hurt for the Bulls. He would come back, but it looked like the Bulls were in trouble after the hot start from Atlanta.
Chicago would battle back though. Over the next four minutes, Chicago would get the lead back to 13 with a big run, but the Hawks found a way to once again battle back.
While Murray and Capela were still playing really well, Young and Bogdanovic started shooting the ball well, giving the Hawks more offense.
Chicago would end up leading the game at the half 73-67, but that felt like a major accomplishment after the disastrous first quarter.
Atlanta shot 53% from the field and 38% from three in the first half. In the second quarter though, Atlanta shot 70% from the field and 71% from three.
Murray led the way for Atlanta with 23 points, Capela had 16 points and seven rebounds, and both Bogdanovic and Young had 10 points. It was about as bad of a half as you could imagine for Hunter, who had zero points and was not making his presence felt on either end of the court.
The Bulls (who are not a good offensive team) shot 60% from the field and 54% from three in the first half. DeRozan had 18 points, Coby White had 17 points, Dosunmu had 12, and Vucevic had 11.
The third quarter saw both teams battling back and forth and neither one could truly seperate. There were times where it looked like the Hawks would be cutting into the lead, but the Bulls would answer with a run. Chicago could not get the lead up enough to feel comfortable though.
At the first timeout with 7:56 left in the quarter, the Hawks had the lead cut to four points, 81-77.
After Coby White and DeMar DeRozan led the team in the first half, Nikola Vucevic was the one hurting the Hawks in the early going.
The highlight of the third quarter for the Hawks was a monster dunk from Dejounte Murray
It looked like the Hawks might threaten to take the lead after Trae Young hit a step-back three to cut Chicago's lead to 88-85, but then the Bulls went on another massive run to seize control of the game.
Chicago went on a 17-2 run to go up 18 and it was looking like the Hawks season was coming to an end.
The fourth quarter showed the Hawks limitations with their roster coming into the night and the Bulls ran away with it. Chicago would win 131-116 and they will head to Miami to face the Heat and the winner will go on to face the Celtics in the first round. Atlanta's season is over and now they will head into a crucial offseason.
For the game, Atlanta shot 45% from the field and 29% from three. The Hawks were not going to have much of a chance if they shot like that from three, but it was not the only issue. Murray led the Hawks with 30 points, Young and Capela had 22 each, and Bogdanovic had 21. Hunter finished with eight points on 3-16 shooting. The Hawks only got 13 points from their bench.
Chicago finished the game shooting 57% from the field and 42% from three. White had a tremendous game with 42 points, DeRozan had 22, and Vucevic had 24. Chicago scored 1.29 points per possession and had a 128 offensive rating for the game.
