Chicago Bulls at Atlanta Hawks Takeaways: Chicago’s Abysmal Performance

Jan 20, 2017; Atlanta, GA, USA; Chicago Bulls forward Jimmy Butler (21) is defended by Atlanta Hawks center Dwight Howard (8) and forward Mike Scott (32) in the third quarter at Philips Arena. The Hawks won 102-93. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 20, 2017; Atlanta, GA, USA; Chicago Bulls forward Jimmy Butler (21) is defended by Atlanta Hawks center Dwight Howard (8) and forward Mike Scott (32) in the third quarter at Philips Arena. The Hawks won 102-93. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
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Jan 20, 2017; Atlanta, GA, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Michael Carter-Williams (7) is defended by Atlanta Hawks guard Dennis Schroder (17) and center Dwight Howard (8) in the first quarter at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 20, 2017; Atlanta, GA, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Michael Carter-Williams (7) is defended by Atlanta Hawks guard Dennis Schroder (17) and center Dwight Howard (8) in the first quarter at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Spoiler (to Nobody?) – The Bulls CAN’T Shoot Threes

In the “new era” of the NBA, several teams have begun utilizing the 3-point line in their offenses, and with high levels of success.

The Golden State Warriors earned a championship trophy off of that play style, and this year the Houston Rockets have shown the league just how good a team can be if you surround a player with 3-point shooters and continue to fire away.

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For Chicago, however, shooting 3s is something the Bulls can’t do, and something they shouldn’t do either.

Chicago came into Saturday’s game already dead last in 3-point percentage per game (at 31.5 percent).

This game versus the Hawks showed why the Bulls can become so inefficient and awful in games sometimes, and that’s because once Chicago’s offense is stagnant, the resulting lack of movement forces the Bulls to take terrible shots, with many of them coming from 3-pointers.

The Bulls started off 0-for-11 from 3-point territory. If the Bulls want to have any chance of winning games, then they’ll need to always have good ball movement and only take 3-pointers when wide open (cough, Niko, cough).

Even the supposed “sharpshooters” for Chicago aren’t shooting well this year: Doug McDermott is only hitting 34 percent of his 3s, and Nikola Mirotic is struggling as well at 30 percent.

The Bulls aren’t shooting well now, and there’s little hope of that changing anytime soon.