Atlanta Hawks earn crucial home win over Chicago Bulls, 93-86 (12/15/14)

By E. Marcel Pourtout, Editor

The last time the Atlanta Hawks were on the court, they lost a last-second contest at Orlando last Saturday, snapping their nine-game winning streak. The Hawks returned home for a crucial home matchup with the Chicago Bulls and emerged with an 93-86 victory.

Atlanta (17-7) has now won nine of its last ten contests while the loss snapped a three-game winning streak for Chicago (15-9).

Atlanta’s Al Horford had a team-high 21 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. Paul Millsap (17 points), Kyle Korver (12 points) and Jeff Teague (12 points) also scored in double-figures for the Hawks. Atlanta shot 43.4 percent from the field, making seven out of 21 three-pointer attempts.

“Contributions up and down the roster on both ends of the court really allowed us to be a very good team,” Atlanta head coach Mike Budenholzer said.

“It was very important,” Hawks’ forward DeMarre Carroll said. “We had to come out and be aggressive and match their physicality because they have a very physical team. We just tried to take the fight to them.”

Jimmy Butler had a game-high 22 points for the Bulls while Taj Gibson earned a double-double, grabbing a game-high 17 rebounds and scoring 15 points. Pau Gasol also had a double-double, scoring 13 points and getting 12 rebounds.

Derrick Rose finished the game with 14 points and eight assists. He went six for 21 from the field and misses all eight three-pointer attempts.

“Shots that I normally hit were just flat,” Rose said. “They just didn’t have any lift to them. I can guarantee you the next game that won’t happen.”

“I thought our guys played hard,” Bulls’ head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “I thought the rebounding was really good. You have to give (the Hawks) credit. They made big plays.”

Atlanta took a 73-64 lead into the fourth quarter. The Bulls started the fourth on a 7-0 run to cut the Hawks’ lead to 73-71 with 8:35 left in the game. Atlanta proceeded to go on a 12-7 run to take an 85-78 lead with 3:30 left. The run was punctuated on a Teague layup from a Horford assist.

The Hawks had a strong start to the game, taking a 28-22 lead after the first quarter. “We talked about wanting to have great pace coming out tonight,” Budenholzer said. “It probably ended up being the little bit of cushion that we needed, that allowed us to get the win. The pace early was great.”

Atlanta increased its lead and took a 50-44 halftime lead into the locker room. Horford had a team-high 11 points and five rebounds at the half while Korver scored nine points. Overall, the Hawks shot 43 percent from the field in the first half, making six of 14 three-pointer attempts.

Butler scored a game-high 14 first-half points for the Bulls and grabbed six rebounds. Gibson grabbed a game-high nine rebounds along with eight points in the first half. Rose went three-for-13 from the floor in the first half for eight points.

The Bulls shot 38 percent from the field in the first half, making only three-of-14 from the three-point line.