Film Room: The Chicago Bulls struggles in Atlanta, playoff implications

The Chicago Bulls made a trip to Georgia for a tilt with the Atlanta Hawks last weekend. The matchup went horribly wrong for the Bulls as they were absolutely dominated by the Hawks. Atlanta played an excellent game. It was evident that they planned perfectly for Chicago and that’s bad news for the Bulls and their playoff ambitions.

Friday night was bizarre. Chicago was visiting one of the mid-tier teams in the Eastern Conference, a Hawks team that wasn’t really inspiring confidence with their record, the Kyle Korver trade, or the rampant rumors that they were shopping Paul Millsap. It was a road game; the Bulls don’t like those. And it was the first game of a back-to-back, which means you could always question the focus and effort of this team (more than usual, even).

There is another reason that this game stands out. I’m thinking of the implications for the playoffs. This isn’t about the possibility of a matchup between Atlanta and Chicago, because laugh out loud at what would have to happen for both teams and to the rest of the Eastern Conference for that to happen. This is about what happens when a team that is well coached has time to game plan for the Bulls and then executes that plan.

That’s what the playoffs are about. That is why the level of play and the watchability of basketball goes through the roof. Teams know what they’re facing, they know each other. Even if they haven’t played each other in a while, or without their best players, it is a case of the book being out on what each team does. The book is out on this Chicago team and has been for a while.

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Before breaking down a couple of examples of film where the Hawks were ready for the Bulls and played them as well as is possible, let’s go ahead and address a couple of things worth noting. First, Atlanta had a ridiculously successful first quarter, shooting 15-for-19, including 10-for-12 in the restricted area. They attacked the basket and limited their outside shooting to high percentage looks. They also imposed their will on defense, and that’s a big piece of where we are heading with this look at the ugly results.

Also, none of these clips will really address just how savage the Hawks were in attacking the perimeter defense of Chicago. It was a total thrashing and it was not dependent on which Atlanta player was attacking, by the time the basket was scored, it was always Robin Lopez or Cristiano Felicio being forced into a help defense leaving Dwight Howard or some other Hawk open for the easy make.

The plan was pretty simple because, sadly, simple plans executed against the Bulls tend to yield big results. The reason is obvious, they have some exceptional talent in Jimmy Butler and the rest of the roster struggles to fit around him or coach Fred Hoiberg has trouble figuring out who to pair with his star and when.

This is an extremely common set for an offense and defense to run. Happens however many hundreds of times across the league on any given night. Lopez sets a solid screen so that frees Dwyane Wade to fire. The emphasis here is that Howard was always ready to cross the lane and cut off any drive that Wade could initiate. If Wade’s man had been able to fight over the screen, they would have left Lopez wide open, daring him to shoot. That is, of course, if they could get him the ball.

Here, it’s another double off the screener onto the ballhandler. Justifiable, because Jimmy should probably draw double teams every time he has the ball. Often, if Atlanta didn’t double, they showed double to control where he could go. The Hawks knew how to play Jimmy and were prepared for the actions of his 3-5 pick-and-roll pairings with his center. And this is the second marquee Bull that has found himself doubled early in this game, with Lopez being largely ignored because of his distance from the basket.

You could also point to poor play calling by Chicago. There was a significant lack of movement by the Bulls to create any mismatches and the defense was never forced to recover in any way that left them exposed for a high-percentage 3-pointer or restricted area gimme, the two things that Atlanta was getting by the truckload on the other end of the floor.

This one is a bit of a head scratcher by Wade, but still follows the Hawks plan exactly. They had no problem doubling Wade on his attack of the basket, allowing Taj Gibson to linger in the mid-range unchecked. Fortunately, that’s a bad shot and Atlanta was smart to be willing to live with that over a Wade attempt at the rim. Wade was puzzling in the fact that he got inside and saw no scoring opportunity but wasn’t looking to get the ball back to Gibson, instead hitting Michael Carter-Williams of all people for a 3-point look.

Carter-Williams isn’t a great 3-point shooter, just like every other player in the Bulls starting lineup. Having him put up a prayer is better than letting Wade have a layup.

A trip to the other end of the floor. On defense, Chicago was getting annihilated at/anywhere near the rim. It was an ugly first quarter. However, there was more than just the effort in daring Chicago perimeter defenders to look like anything more than rocking chairs. The Atlanta was getting after individual players.

Attacking Rajon Rondo’s defense is so obvious that it could take several minutes for your eyes to stop rolling. But they did it on the very first play he was in the game. It’s savage, it’s smart, it’s how you play basketball when you have a game plan and your team is prepared.

This one didn’t appear regularly in the Atlanta mix, but the Hawks did another really smart thing. Not only is Howard a player with limited offensive range, but Lopez is a player who is increasingly more valuable on defense the closer you get to the rim. He’ll get lit up by players who have mid-range jumpers because he’s going to give them some space to shoot and not risk getting blasted like the Pope on cigs.

Howard’s limited range and Lopez’s rim defense seem like a great matchup that kind of even things out for the Chicago big man, but the Hawks found a little bit of a way around it. When they weren’t torching the perimeter players, forcing help defense from Lopez, they found a nice wrinkle by giving Howard a head of steam to roll at the rim with Lopez out of position to help. Again, Atlanta knew what the Bulls were working with and exploited it in the fullest.

If you’re not doubling off the screener to cut off scoring opportunities in the paint, might as well trap on off the screener on the wing, right? Sure, why not. Butler is put in the corner essentially and has to try and turn that into a pass to the rolling Gibson. Naturally, a turnover ensues, giving the Hawks room to run it out for transition points.

It may look familiar, but this was just one play later with Butler and Lopez instead of Butler and Gibson. Another turnover.

There are a lot of reasons that Chicago has struggled this season. Fingers can and should be pointed at the front office, the coaching and the players. However, the Hawks game pointed to something a bit different.

The Bulls are no lock for the playoffs, though it’s likely they could push for a spot. If they make it in, what happened with Atlanta is a huge warning sign of what we might expect. Whatever team the Bulls end up facing in the playoffs if they make it probably won’t shoot 15-for-19, including a nearly halfcourt heave. But the team they end up facing will be skilled and likely well coached.

The game in Atlanta on January 20th should act as a litmus test for this team moving forward. If they make the playoffs, this is the kind of mismatch that can be expected. There are just too many problems and not enough Jimmy Butler’s to just gloss over everything.

There either needs to be a change in approach and philosophy within the organization or some serious consideration of what they hope to achieve by taking on a team like Cleveland, Toronto, or Boston in the playoffs. The odds of winning are slim. Making the playoffs can be exciting, but getting demolished in said playoffs could be just as bad as missing them altogether, or worse. Except, you know, the team generates a few more dollars of revenue despite not giving fans anything to look forward to or believe in as a future contender.

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