The Chicago Bulls dug themselves out of another double-digit deficit Saturday night, bouncing back in Atlanta for a 125-113 victory over the Hawks to snap a four-game losing streak.
The win was powered by Ayo Dosunmu’s team-high 19 points and 18-point performances from the Bulls’ three offensive leaders: Zach LaVine, Coby White and Nikola Vučević. White scored 11 in the final quarter, fueling the comeback despite shooting 2-for-9 from 3-point range.
Eight players scored in double figures for the Bulls, who trailed by as many as 18 points.
Jalen Johnson and Clint Capela each had 20 points to lead the Hawks, but Atlanta cratered in the second half as the Bulls (4-6) stormed back, taking their first lead with 8 minutes, 4 seconds remaining.
Here are five takeaways from the win.
1. The slow starts returned
The Bulls hadn’t won a first quarter until Thursday’s loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves — and that trend quickly returned in Atlanta, where they coughed up 37 points for a 13-point deficit.
First quarters are a conundrum for the Bulls. They fall behind predicated on sluggish 3-point shooting. Through nine games, they ranked ninth in the NBA in 3-point percentage at 37.4%, but that number dropped to 32.3% (22nd) in the opening 12 minutes of play.
This rang true again Saturday, when the Bulls went 2-for-9 from 3-point range in the first quarter and 11-for-30 in the ensuing three quarters.
2. Bulls showed no resistance — until the fourth quarter
The Bulls defense sits only a few rungs above the bottom of the league, averaging a 115.3 rating while holding only one team — the Orlando Magic — below 100 points. In Atlanta, the Bulls struggled to activate in the first half on either end of the court, allowing 37 points in the first quarter as the Hawks dominated the paint.
One crucial emphasis for the Hawks: lobs. This has been a weakness for the Bulls all season, partially due to their lack of size and partially because their bigs — Vučević, Jalen Smith and even Patrick Williams — struggle to anticipate and adjust to the over-the-top threat. Hawks center Clint Capela thrived in these situations in the first half, scoring 16 points.
But after giving up 70 first-half points, the Bulls made crucial adjustments to slow the Hawks. They threw double teams at Trae Young to prevent the shooter from getting open looks while utilizing perimeter pressure to fend off entry passes into the post. The Bulls allowed only 15 points off six made baskets in the final quarter as the Hawks went 0-for-7 from 3-point range, giving the visitors an opening to pull ahead for a late-game win.
3. Josh Giddey quietly anchored the offense
The Bulls were lucky to be playing one of the few teams who are defensively inferior to them. Despite being one of the foremost teams in the league in steals, the Hawks post an average defensive rating of 117.3 (fifth-worst in the NBA).
The Hawks are elite in one area of defense — creating turnovers on the perimeter, where Dyson Daniels prowls with the goal of disrupting and deflecting every ball that comes his way. But once the Bulls’ shooting clicked into gear, the offense sliced through the Hawks with ease to fuel their fourth-quarter finish.
Giddey operated as a crucial cog in the offensive success, leading the team (alongside LaVine) with seven assists to go with 13 points and six rebounds. Giddey’s effectiveness has been hit-or-miss in the early weeks of his transition to Chicago, but Saturday’s win highlighted how the guard can affect the offense.
Giddey particularly flexed his ability to spy open teammates in the open court, slinging a one-handed pass that spanned one-third of the length of the court in the second quarter to find Dosunmu in the corner for a transition 3-pointer.
4. Fast and furious
Running the open court is a key portion of the Bulls’ offensive game plan as they aim to outrun their opponents in a new high-tempo approach. That hustle paid off in Atlanta, where the Bulls outscored the Hawks’ 23-12 in transition despite committing four more turnovers.
The passing provided by LaVine and Giddey gave the Bulls wide-open lanes to the rim, but top shooters such as White and Dosunmu also were willing to fire 3-pointers after running coast-to-coast at full speed. This is another focus of the 3-point-heavy offense, which garnered 39 points off 39 attempts from behind the arc.
Dosunmu punched in the exclamation point with a transition dunk with 2:38 remaining, crushing a one-handed slam to score the final two of the Bulls’ 23 transition points after White collected a loose ball off another Hawks turnover.
5. Zach LaVine was back in action
After missing three games with a right adductor strain, the guard returned with urgency. He scored 14 points in the first half while shooting 5-for-6 from the floor, showing little discomfort from the lingering injury.
But that production fell off after halftime. LaVine did not score in the third quarter and managed only four points while going 0-for-3 from behind the arc in the second half.
