RECAP: Hawks Offense Craters In the 4th Quarter and Atlanta Blows Big Lead in Loss to Chicago

The Hawks are now 4-7 this season after losing to the Bulls tonight

Nov 9, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks center Clint Capela (15) goes to the basket past Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic (9) during the first half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

In last night's loss to the Pistons, the Hawks got off to a terrible start that doomed them in a close game they could have won. Tonight vs Chicago, Atlanta got out to a big lead and played great for three quarters, but fell apart in the fourth quarter, leading to an embarrassing loss to the Bulls.

Atlanta led by as many as 18 in this game and they led by eight going into the fourth quarter. They then proceeded to have as bad of a quarter as you could possibly have in a game and they lost. The Hawks looked like they ran out of gas in the fourth quarter and they proceeded to shoot 6-23 from the field and 0-7 from three. They were outscored 35-15 in the final quarter and in a game they led by 18, they lost by 12. The defense struggling to contain the Bulls after the first quarter was also an issue. The Hawks were outscored 65-43 in the second half.

Trae Young had a double-double in this game, finishing with 14 points and 16 assists, but he struggled getting his shot going. It was not the best game from him, but certainly not the worst.

Jalen Johnson finished with 20 points, six rebounds and five assists. Zaccharie Risacher had 17 points, Clint Capela had 20 points (only four in the second half), and Dyson Daniels had 16 points, eight rebounds, and six steals.

One after being thoroughly outplayed by the Pistons bench, the Hawks bench was outscored 48-26 in this game. Ayo Dosunmu had 19 points for the Bulls and both Jalen Smith and Julian Phillips had 10 points.

The Hawks shot 46% from the floor and 31% from three tonight. Chicago was 50% from the field and 33% from three. Eight players from Chicago were in double figures.

Let's recap tonight's game.

The Hawks went with their usual starting lineup of Trae Young, Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, Jalen Johnson, and Clint Capela for tonight's game.

Chicago got Zach LaVine back for this game and he was in the starting lineup alongside Coby White, Josh Giddey, Patrick Williams, and Nikola Vucevic.

The Hawks got off to a slow start against Detroit last night, but that was not the case vs Chicago. Atlanta lept out to an 8-2 lead and hit three of their first four shots. They took advantage of a poor Bulls defense and got out to an early lead.

The rotation for the Hawks tonight was a little bit different. Larry Nance, who has played mostly at center this year, came in to back up Jalen Johnson at the four. Keaton Wallace, Garrison Matthews, and Onyeka Okongwu were the other subs.

Not only were the Hawks playing strong defense at the start, but they took advantage of their opportunities at the free throw line. With 3:10 left in the first quarter, the Hawks led 30-20 and were 8-8 at the free throw line. They would lead 37-24 going into the second quarter and were shooting 57% from the field. Young had eight assists in the first quarter alone.

This one "only" from half court 😁 https://t.co/wjtoGMSfMw pic.twitter.com/0PumIhGREc

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) November 10, 2024

Chicago is a pretty good three-point shooting team, but they were only shooting 22% from deep in the opening quarter. LaVine and Vucevic had seven points each.

The offense for the Hawks was slow to get going in the second quarter, but it picked up towards the end. The defense was much worse though.

After a strong opening quarter on the defensive end, Atlanta allowed Chicago to shoot 59% from the field and 56% (5-9) from three. Atlanta gave up 36 points in the quarter, but their offense kept the lead at double digits for them.

Trae strolled right into this one like he was at the park 😂 pic.twitter.com/YqiMyeDp5z

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) November 10, 2024

The Hawks led by as many as 18 in the quarter, but three straight three pointers from Chicago cut the lead to nine. Atlanta would weather the storm though and led 70-60 going into the half.

At the half, Atlanta was shooting 56% from the floor and 43% from three. They were also 18-21 at the free throw line, an advantage they held by 11 over Chicago at the half. Capela led all scorers with 16 points, Johnson had 13, and Young had eight points and ten assists.

Chicago was shooting 52% from the field and 39% from three at the half. LaVine led the Bulls with 14 points.

The Hawks opened up the third quarter on a 7-0 run that pushed the lead to 17. Daniels picked off Giddey for a steal and a layup in transition, Johnson hit a corner three, and then Young found Risacher cutting to the basket for a layup. It was 77-60 with 10:08 left in the quarter and Billy Donovan wanted a timeout to settle his team down.

While it looked like the Hawks were getting ready to run away with the game in the second half, the Bulls found something that worked and that was getting out in transition. With the Hawks playing on the second leg of back-to-back, the Bulls were trying to get out and run and tire the Hawks out. They got the lead down to as little as seven, but the Hawks found a way to gather themselves and not let the lead get any smaller. Atlanta led 98-90 heading into the final quarter.

LOBS GALORE pic.twitter.com/UHein18xba

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) November 10, 2024

The Bulls would just not go away though. Trailing by eight to start the final quarter, they opened on a 14-3 run to take the lead 104-101.

Things were not improving for the Hawks though on the offensive end. They opened the quarter 3-16 from the floor and trailed Chicgo 108-107 with 3:56 left in the game.

The offense