Chicago Bulls: 2 studs, 1 dud from late win over Hawks

In their first game back out of the All-Star Break, second-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Chicago Bulls downed star point guard Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks at home at the United Center in a tight contest most of the way. Donovan and the Bulls were looking to move their five-game winning streak to six on the night of Feb. 24.

This meeting with the Hawks also signified the start of a difficult run on the schedule post-All-Star Break. The Bulls have the second-toughest schedule remaining in the NBA coming out of All-Star Weekend.

That is a big reason why this game for the Bulls, which was a little bit more manageable than some of the other upcoming contests, was important to come up with the win. And that’s exactly what they delivered on an off night for Young.

DeMar DeRozan and the Chicago Bulls down the Hawks in a close contest on Feb. 24

The Bulls were pretty close with the Hawks throughout this game. And it really remained that way until the very end. A strong fourth-quarter close-out got the Bulls this win over the Hawks by the final score of 112-108.

On this night, the Bulls had to stave off strong efforts from a surprise duo for the Hawks of forward Danilo Gallinari and shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic. Those two gave the Hawks 53 points combined on better than 50 percent shooting from the field and from beyond the arc.

That didn’t stop the Bulls as their starting unit came up big down the stretch.

Here’s a look into two studs and one dud from the Bulls’ close win over the Hawks on Feb. 24.