Bulls’ Rose misses third straight game; Butler improving

A matchup against a Chicago Bulls team without Derrick Rose or Jimmy Butler appeared to be a remedy for the struggling Hawks. After their last game against the Golden State Warriors, the Hawks seemingly discovered a different level of competing, which they implemented in Friday night’s game as well.

Despite Rose being out, there’s still some value in the Bulls, who have covered in four straight games.

Three games, three double-digit losses they’ve dealt the Bulls this season, and their 103-88 win Friday at Philips Arena broke a three-way tie for fifth place in the East, as the Bulls entered the evening percentage points ahead of the Hawks.

The second half further demonstrated just how desperately the Hawks wanted this win.

Al Horford scored 23 points to lead the Hawks. All-Star center Pau Gasol (illness) was a game-time decision on Wednesday as well but battled through and almost pulled off a triple-double with 10 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists in a 109-104 triumph over the Washington Wizards.

The Atlanta Hawks were in a serious funk.

The Hawks had four double-digit scorers in Jeff Teague (19), Al Horford (18), Kent Bazemore (17) and Paul Millsap (12).

The final quarter sealed the win for Atlanta as they persevered offensively, putting up numerous threes and never allowing Chicago the opportunity to turn the game around. “To have two to three days off and come out here with a win is big, and we got one more on Sunday – that’s going to have to be a similar mindset”. The Bulls would, as most National Basketball Association teams do, make another push with an 11-1 run in their own right, and with that, the visitors climbed within eight points.

However, with such offensive balance, the Hawks won every quarter and were able to overcome Korver’s lack of impact. Kirk Hinrich made his first appearance with the Hawks against his former team with less than three minutes left to play. Atlanta took the lead 26-21 at the end of the first quarter, having shot just 39%, but benefiting from the majority of rebounds. The Hawks avoided their first five-game home losing streak since December 2006….

“Tonight was big for us”, Hawks Head Coach Mike Budenholzer said in his post game conference.