Chicago Bulls strike back; Beat the Atlanta Hawks 86 – 73 (Part 2)
The third quarter was the only period in the game in which the Atlanta Hawks had the better of the Chicago Bulls. Atlanta outscored the Bulls 21-17 in that frame and closed the gap to 7 points by its end.
The main reason for the Bulls’ struggle was Derrick Rose’s poor display. Rose completely lost his shooting touch and made just one of 5 field goals in the third. Rose even missed from the free throw line and turned the ball over
3 times. He was bailed out by his teammates though as Luol Deng scored 8 points and Keith Bogans made the only 3 for Chicago in the quarter.
Atlanta thought they had a chance in the final quarter, as Rose continued to struggle. However, Kyle Korver drained one from beyond the arc to start an 8-1 run for Chicago that effectively killed off the Hawks’ chances. Jeff Teague
hit a jumper to go close again at 71-77 with 4:17 left to play, but Chicago responded with a 9-2 run to see out the game.
Both teams did not shoot well in the game but Chicago had the edge with 39.3 percent to 33.8 from the Hawks. Atlanta also lost the battle of the boards with a 58 – 39 margin, two nights after holding the advantage in game-1.
Atlanta’s game plan against Derrick Rose has been to stuff the lane and dare him to take shots from the outside and so far it has worked. Derrick made 10-of-27 in the first game and 11-of-28 tonight, but he seemed assured of bouncing
back,
"Shots I normally hit, they just didn't fall tonight," Rose said. "The way that they're playing me, I'm going to continue to shoot."
Rose played despite of injury concerns over his twisted ankle, alongside Carlos Boozer who had a turf toe. Boozer had 8 points and 11 rebounds on the night, but the United Center crowd apparently wanted more from their power forward.
Joakim Noah leapt to the defence of his teammate after the game and demanded patience from the crowd, "Sometimes our home crowd, it's a tough place to play," he said. "We have a lot of love for our crowd, but through tough times,
we got to stick together."
"With Carlos, I think people have to understand he's playing through an injury right now, and he's giving us what he's got,"
Atlanta guard Joe Johnson said the team were not pleased with their performance. Atlanta had been largely outplayed on the night and never really got in the game. They lagged behind in field goal percentage, shooting from the line
and also on the glass.
Johnson admitted the team and their fans expected better, "This one hurt," Johnson said. "This was definitely a game I thought that we could have won and go home up 2-0."
The series now heads to Atlanta for game-3 and game-4. If the Hawks can make home court advantage count, they will certainly be in a commanding position.
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