Slow First Quarter Ends Six-Game Winning Streak For Chicago Bulls
By Dave Daniels
The Chicago Bulls longest winning streak of the season ended due to a sluggish start against Atlanta
The Chicago Bulls lost 120-105 on Saturday night, and this was mainly due to a sloppily played first quarter. The Bulls only managed 19 points in that period while allowing the Atlanta Hawks to score 30, and then Chicago followed that up by giving up 34 in the second quarter.
Jimmy Butler continued his stellar play of late with 27 points total, but 14 of those came in the third quarter when Chicago was already behind the eight ball. Nikola Mirotic added 24 points for the Bulls in one his best games of the year, but it wasn’t enough for them to extend their six-game win streak.
Chicago’s bigs got all they could handle against Atlanta. Al Horford scored a season-high 33 points and added in 10 rebounds, while Paul Millsap recorded 18 as well. Atlanta led by 19 points at one time in the second quarter, and overall they felt comfortable running on offense.
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“We got up and down, guys were running the floor, we rolled to the basket, got easy lobs and things like that,” Jeff Teague said to NBA.com after the win. “That’s how we have to play for us to be a good team.”
Teague had 12 points and six assists, and he has had a decent season for the Hawks. Chicago head coach Fred Hoiberg appeared frustrated afterward that his team didn’t come out with more urgency to get this win streak to seven games, and we’ll have to observe if he coaches the Bulls any harder in the coming week.
“For whatever reason, right now we’re coming out with more energy in the third quarter than we are in the first,” Hoiberg said. “That’s got to change. We’re giving up 30 regularly now in the first quarter. We have to find a way to stop that.”
The Bulls are now 22-13 and still reside at the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference standings behind Cleveland, but the good news is that they could have center Joakim Noah back by tomorrow. He’ll work out with the team today, and Hoiberg said that if the big man gets through the practice with no lingering issues, then the Bulls will most likely test what Noah has in the tank. They got a taste on Saturday of what it felt like to be on the radar of other teams after a long winning streak, and they failed to match their opponent’s intensity.
“It’s going to test our character knowing that that team really had their eyes set on us from the way they jumped out on us,” Taj Gibson said to the Chicago Tribune. “Like Coach said, we have a bulls-eye on our back. People are starting to see us come around so we just have to adjust and make the right kind of plays and make the right kind of hustle plays. I think we’ll be fine.”
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We should find out if Gibson is right tomorrow night against the Washington Wizards, because that is a squad desperate for a win whatever way they can get it in the East. John Wall in particular will come out attacking Derrick Rose, and this should be a great test physically for the Bulls PG. Let’s watch how Chicago bounces back.