The Chicago Bulls are heading into the final leg of the NBA play-in tournament. They scored quite a few points along the way.
The Bulls defeated the Atlanta Hawks 131-116 on Wednesday, not far from their season high of 136 points during the regular season. Coby White was responsible for 42 of those points, more than any regular season game he has played in his career.
The win sets Chicago up for a matchup against the Miami Heat for the final spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. That game is scheduled for Friday at 7:00 PM ET in Miami. The Heat could be significantly shorthanded for that game after a possible MCL injury to star Jimmy Butler. The Bulls could also come up short ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that star defender Alex Caruso could be in doubt after suffering a “significant” right foot sprain on Wednesday.
As for the Hawks, their season is over after a 36-46 win in the regular season.
Bulls blow out Hawks, bring them back and then blow them out again
It’s hard to think of a better start for Chicago than putting up 40 points to energize the United Center crowd, and that’s exactly what happened. The Bulls won the first quarter 40-22 and kept it going for much of the second quarter.
They looked good doing it.
Much of that offense was thanks to White, a player with a serious case for Most Improved Player after becoming a full-time starter this season. White finished the game with 42 points on 15-of-21 shooting with nine rebounds, six assists and zero turnovers.
However, the Hawks weren’t done yet. They took away the lead in the final minutes of the second quarter, led by Dejounte Murray on an off night for Trae Young. The three-time All-Star played in his fourth game since returning from finger surgery and scored 22 points on 4-for-12 shooting with 10 assists and six turnovers.
Meanwhile, Murray, who finished with 30 points, made his mark.
The Hawks were certainly still alive, but their lack of depth seriously hurt them. Neither of these teams are known for their deep bench (Atlanta is No. 25 in the NBA in bench minutes per game; Chicago is No. 30), but the difference was that Chicago had no reason to pull their starters past fatigue. .
Atlanta certainly did that, with De’Andre Hunter putting up one of his worst games of the season with eight points on 3-for-16 shooting. The Hawks’ offense didn’t stop answering the Bulls’ punches until late in the third, and the result was an 18-2 Chicago run that effectively put the game out of reach.
Where do the Hawks go from here?
It’s not like any team should be happy about going 36-46 and getting blown out in the bad play-in game, but Wednesday’s result is especially troubling when you’re running out of buttons to press .
The Hawks are built for Young to push them to the playoffs. He has his limitations, especially on defense, but a player who can score and pass like him should be able to essentially be a ‘just add water’ player on offense, where the water is shooters and a competent pick-and-roll partner.
The Hawks tried that and reached the Eastern Conference finals, but struggled to follow up on that success. They tried to give Young an All-Star defensive partner in Murray and won two fewer games the following season. They fired head coach Nate McMillan and hired a veteran in Quin Snyder and things got worse.
What exactly do you do next? Young, Murray, Hunter and Bogdan Bogdanović are all under contract for at least three seasons. Spotrac currently has the team with a negative $46 million cap hit for next season.
All steps to build around Young should theoretically have been made by now. He is completing his sixth year with the team, and after that time, he has been fooling the New York Knicks fans. That sounds like a player you could trade for, but even that wouldn’t exactly be fair considering he was playing his fourth game back from injury.
It will be an offseason full of tough questions for the Hawks.
