The Chicago Bulls, while trying to lose, eliminated the Atlanta Hawks from the playoffs!
With the loss, the Atlanta Hawks slid to a 20-47 record, tied with Orlando for the pits of the East. Because the Magic own their tiebreaker, Orlando’s chances at a playoff berth remain (technically) alive. The Hawks, however, are done. Chicago rose to a 23-43 record, good for 12th in the East. Chicago’s chances at capturing the NBA’s worst record (which currently rests with Memphis, at 18-48) are looking pretty slim, if they intend to keep compiling wins against the NBA’s dregs.
In a sparsely-populated Philips Arena, the host Atlanta Hawks managed to scrape together a loss to the visiting Chicago Bulls, 129-122. Hawks small forward Taurean Prince did his darnedest to hurt his own team’s tanking chances. Prince scored 38 points, connecting on seven three-pointers. It was a career high. His scorching touch from downtown was on display early. Prince’s sharpshooting helped the Hawks at one point hit a 26-10 lead late in the first quarter.
By halftime, the persistent scoring of Zach LaVine, Bobby Portis and G-League call-up Antonio Blakeney led to a 33-16 second quarter and a 56-50 Chicago advantage. Things got tight again in the fourth quarter. A Taurean Prince triple brought Atlanta to within three, 118-115, with 1:26 remaining. A later four-point play by Prince made the margin 125-122 Bulls with 18 seconds remaining. The Bulls, however, sadly managed to close out the win.
Chicago has been punished by the NBA for its brazen tanking. It’s a bummer when a team that’s trying to lose wins. Especially when it’s your team. Watching a team that’s trying to lose defeat another team that’s trying to lose is tough to appraise. That said, here are your three takeaways.
Lauri Markkanen’s dunk show reminded us that Markkanen is awesome. At one point, Markkanen drove in for a sweet tomahawk dunk early in the third quarter. In a win this disheartening, it was nice to remember that The Finnisher is actually pretty good. Kris Dunn passed it to Markkanen along the left side of the three-point circle. Markkanen then showed off his handle while dribbling to the rack. He slammed it home against Prince. Markkanen did it again four minutes later, flushing home a David Nwaba bounce pass. Markkanen finished with 19 points and eight rebounds in 29 minutes.
As an aside, Markkanen’s backup had an even better day. Bobby Portis performed great, showing off a developing handle. He had 21 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists in 27 minutes. Portis, more than anyone else, is more responsible for the Bulls winning when we should be losing.
I still can’t tell if Cameron Payne is any good. The back-up point guard made a nifty dish, in traffic, to Noah Vonleh at the bottom of the third. We’re stuck with him for a year. We might as well try to look for these highlights. Are they silver linings from a dumb signing, though, or do they hint at a promising player? In 17 competitive minutes, Payne scored seven points on two-of-three field goal shooting and two-of-two free throw shooting. One of those two field goals was a wide open triple off a Denzel Valentine find. Payne is shooting a respectable 34.6% from deep in his nine games this season. He also had four assists and two rebounds last night. Jerian Grant, his predecessor as Kris Dunn’s backup, never ditched his warmup sweats for court time. Would I take Cameron Payne over Jerian Grant? I don’t know.
Antonio Blakeney deserves some more run. Could undrafted rookie Antonio Blakeney be another David Nwaba-esque diamond-in-the-rough? The 6’4″ LSU product was called up from the G-League again this month. He has played 14 games with the Bulls this season. Yesterday afternoon, Blakeney saw his first extended playing time for the Bulls since November. In just 18 minutes, Blakeney went six-of-nine from the field for 14 points. He made two of his three long-distance looks and netted a +16 plus-minus rating. The 21 year-old is a dogged offensive player. His 6’8″ wingspan and aggressive play may earmark him for success at the NBA level. At least Blakeney will be more fun to watch than Cristiano Felicio down the stretch.
Blakeney also had three rebounds, one assist, and one steal. The steal lead to an easy transition layup. Chicago has had some good luck with these undrafted wings lately. Considering how often our front office throws away our second-round picks, the success of players like Blakeney and Nwaba is encouraging.