Bulls beat Hawks 91–86

It may end up hurting them in the long run, but after three unsuccessful tries, the Bulls have won a basketball game, defeating the helpless Hawks by a score of 96–81. I use the term “basketball game” loosely; what we witnessed tonight was an abomination to the sport and, upon completion of this recap, should be erased from the mind for all of eternity. But there were some good things that happened as well, most of which can be tied back to newcomers Lauri Markkanen and David Nwaba.

This was an ugly, ugly game featuring two woeful teams with no earthly idea how to efficiently generate buckets. The Bulls shot an ungodly 36.0 percent from the field; the Hawks not much better, at 39.5 percent. They converted just of 7-of-32 shots from deep, good for 21.9 percent. The early going was rough for Lauri Markkanen, who missed 7 consecutive shots after draining his first three point attempt in the game’s opening minute. It was Robin Lopez who buoyed the offense early, with 10 shot attempts in the first quarter alone. Finding the Lopez down low is about the Bulls’ best hope at generating a bucket out of nothing, which isn’t ideal, but he did an admirable job trying to keep the ship from sinking entirely.

The Bulls trailed for much of the game thanks to some inspired play by Hawks rookie John Collins (13 points) and former Bulls guard Marco Belinelli, who did his best to aid his former team’s tanking efforts with 23 points of his own. However, the Bulls had a surprise helper of their own in the form of athletic guard David Nwaba, who racked up his first career double double (15 points, 11 rebounds) in 23 minutes off the bench. He doesn’t pass very much and took a couple horrid shots, but his nonstop effort was a solid adrenaline boost for a team that desperately needed it. Markkanen also found his way in the third quarter, driving to the basket off the dribble for a dunk and a couple of nifty left handed hook shots when his jump shot wasn’t falling.

The Bulls won this game on the back of their rebounding, where they bludgeoned the tiny Hawks 62 to 40 (18 to 7 offensively). That, combined with the wide free throw disparity (29 attempts to just 13 for the Hawks) was the reason the Bulls won this game.

Oh yeah, and this clutch Markkanen three to put them up 4 with 48.5 seconds remaining. He can play a little bit, guys.

The Bulls are back at it again on Saturday against the Thunder. May the tanking resume as usual.