The Chicago Bulls lost to the Atlanta Hawks 110-94 on Wednesday night at the United Center, extending their losing streak to three games during one of the lightest stretches of the season.
Some losses are hard-fought. This one was gift-wrapped. A night after falling to the New Orleans Pelicans 119-113, the Bulls made little effort to protect the ball early — and the Hawks reaped the benefits, scoring 18 points off 13 turnovers in the first half alone. Guard Josh Giddey was responsible for three of those turnovers, but nine players committed at least one in the half.
Those mistakes finally slowed in the second half, but the double-digit deficit was already set. And it wasn’t just the turnovers (they finished with 20). The Bulls were a step late to every effort play, giving up 27 second-chance points off 14 offensive rebounds.
This should have been another effortless win for the Bulls — the Hawks were missing seven players due to injury, including starters Trae Young (ribs), De’Andre Hunter (left foot), Jalen Johnson (shoulder) and Zaccharie Risacher (left adductor).
But the Hawks received a gargantuan effort from the rest of their roster, with low-rotation players making the most of their expanded minutes. That included Daeqwon Plowden, who dropped 19 points on the Bulls in his NBA debut. Keaton Wallace scored a game-high 27 points.
Coby White led the Bulls with 16 points, Zach LaVine added 15 and Nikola Vučević continued a stretch of double-doubles with 14 points and 16 rebounds. But none of the Bulls stars offered enough firepower to fend off the Hawks’ second-string rotation.
Here are three takeaways from the loss.
1. Ayo Dosunmu returned to the lineup
After missing 10 games with a strained calf, Dosunmu returned to the lineup and immediately made an impact.
Dosunmu is a key facilitator for the Bulls in transition — pushing the pace up the court off every defensive rebound — a factor the team missed throughout his absence. The guard incited a sharper transition offense in his return, helping the Bulls score 24 points off the fast break.
Despite playing only 25 minutes, 7 seconds under a minutes restriction, Dosunmu was a rare bright spot for the Bulls, finishing with nine points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals.
2. Lonzo Ball was sidelined for the back-to-back
Dosunmu’s return was particularly important due to the absence of Ball, who sat out the second night of a back-to-back as part of his long-term recovery plan.
It’s likely that Ball will sit out one game of every back-to-back for the rest of the season after returning from a 33-month absence following three knee surgeries. Ball is still playing under a 25-minute restriction, which he expects to remain in place until the All-Star break.
Although the Bulls are open to testing Ball’s ability to play both ends of a back-to-back before the end of the season, the medical team has been hesitant to rush the guard into that higher volume of playing time.
3. Postseason stakes
If it seems too early for games to have postseason implications, think again.
For the third season in a row, the Bulls and Hawks are locked into a heated battle for play-in contention as they jockey for the ninth and 10th spots in the Eastern Conference. Beating the Hawks on Wednesday would have cemented the head-to-head tiebreaker advantage for the Bulls to determine play-in positioning.
With the loss, the Bulls (18-23) fell 3½ games behind the ninth-place Hawks (21-19) but maintained their two-game lead over the 11th-place Philadelphia 76ers (15-24).
