Atlanta Hawks

Chicago Bulls vs. Atlanta Hawks Outlook: Bulls, Butler be better

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 2:05 a.m. ET

Fansided, Daniel Coughlin/FanSided via Pippen Ain't Easy

The Chicago Bulls host the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night for what might be called the return leg in soccer. These two teams faced off just five days earlier and it was an absolute route.

A lot of things are going to have to turn out different if the Bulls don’t want a repeat of the blowout they suffered in Georgia.

Fortunately, a lot of the things that went against them in that matchup will probably prove to be outliers. Bobby Portis might not ever get on the floor, much less put up a plus-20. Likewise, Jimmy Butler is very unlikely to put up a minus-20 line.

Atlanta also shot lights out in the first quarter and they probably won’t go 15-for-19 again to open the game.

The game also takes on some new significance as the Hawks are coming off a loss and the Bulls are winners of two in a row against the Sacramento Kings and the Orlando Magic. Atlanta might be 7-3 over their last 10 games, but losses to Chicago last week and loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday has allowed the Bulls to edge closer in the standings.

Entering Wednesday night’s contest, the Hawks are fourth in the Eastern Conference standings with Chicago trailing them by just 3.5 games. A Bulls win would go a long way to making the playoff picture packed in the East.

Jan 24, 2017; Orlando, FL, USA; Chicago Bulls forward Taj Gibson (22) holds onto the basket post after being fouled during the second half at Amway Center. The Bulls won 100-92. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Beating the Hawks defense

I wrote a whole piece about the Atlanta defense against the Bulls in their previous matchup. It was very good. They held to their plan and forced driving players like Butler and Dwyane Wade to cough the ball up or find a less appealing option.

Wade and Butler are both great at the rim and draw a lot of contact.

I wrote another piece earlier this month about Butler’s ability to draw contact. He thrives at the line and the more free throws he shoots, the better life is for Chicago.

In screening situations where Robin Lopez or Taj Gibson played the screener and worked with some combination of Bulls ballhandler like Butler or Wade, the Hawks defenders would simply double off of Gibson or Lopez, choosing to cut off the path to the lane for more skilled scoring options that Chicago has to work with.

Lopez did knock down one long mid-range attempt early, but both Lopez and Gibson were abandoned by the defense who eventually extended their lane smothering double teams to traps of Butler on the wing.

The result for Atlanta was lots of Bulls turnovers and transition opportunities for the Hawks. That’s the kind of thing that Chicago has to do a better job of picking up this time around. If they employ the same smart defensive schemes, players like Butler and Wade must recognize it sooner and quickly find their outlet to relieve the pressure, create opportunities and avoid serving up easy baskets for Atlanta.

Jan 24, 2017; Orlando, FL, USA; Orlando Magic center Nikola Vucevic (9) dribbles the ball as Chicago Bulls forward Cristiano Felicio (6) defends during the second half at Amway Center. The Bulls won 100-92. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Protect this house

I think that’s a campaign slogan for Under Amrour. I meant to more lead into the Bulls must protect the paint.

Chicago got absolutely destroyed by Atlanta and the defense played by Atlanta had a lot to do with it. However, there was a whole lot more going on in this one.

Dwight Howard isn’t a great outside shooter, but instead of playing him in a constantly grinding physical battle with Lopez, they simply moved him away from the basket to get him a running start or worked enough action through their guards to attack the paint and find easy passes for layups, mismatches and uncontested slam dunks.

Truly, the Hawks beat the snot out of the Bulls on the perimeter. Dennis Schroder shot 11-for-14 and had six assists. It was an impossible task for Chicago’s lackluster perimeter defense. Howard had a rough shooting night, but not early on when he put a quick seven points on the board in the first quarter against Lopez.

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During that first quarter where Atlanta put the game away, they shot extremely well from the field. However, they only took three shots from beyond the arc, hitting two of them. They were 10-for-12 in the restricted area. With the Bulls already known to struggle on the perimeter, being able to attack them inside at will presents the kind of problem that leads to big blowouts and that’s exactly how this game unfolded.

If Chicago wants a different result on Wednesday night, they’ll need to do a better job protecting their (rim) house.

Find the right players

Lopez has been a great rim defender, but like we said on the last slide, he got worked against the Hawks. They found a number of ways to exploit guards like Rajon Rondo and Michael Carter-Williams. That drew Lopez away from the one place he excels – under the rim. He’s a great player on a great contract, but he can be easily exposed when his guards leave him marooned.

Hoiberg has been doing some weird things with his lineups. He’s reached the point where Cristiano Felicio gets a lot of closing or fourth quarter minutes, but he still runs with Lopez to start the game. Lopez is a much more skilled and refined NBA talent, but like much of this roster, he simply might be a better fit with the second unit if he can’t defend outside of the paint.

However, that doesn’t solve the entire problem. Hoiberg has been continuing his bizarre and probably detrimental pattern of sending players from starting roles to DNPs and vice versa. He did it with Paul Zipser and more recently Carter-Williams. He’s been inconsistent in his playing of Denzel Valentine and new starting point guard Jerian Grant. And let’s not even go back to the Portis situation.

It’s erratic and plays out like a person with a gambling addiction is coaching more than a coach who is tasked with developing youth. This happened on Tuesday night against the Magic. Zipser got in the game early, getting solid early playing time and showing good work for a rookie when given the chance to play. This is the same Zipser who received a bevy of DNPs and then went from bench fixture to starter, played well and then reverted to limited use bench player. McDermott was brought later and was on fire in the first half, knocking down all of his 3-pointers. Instead of adjusting his second half starters or finding a way to bring on Zipser and McDermott, he left Zipser on the bench for the entire third quarter. McDermott got the minutes instead. He struggled and did not have the same success he had in the first half.

It’s a strange pattern of work that Hoiberg is demonstrating. He’s over halfway into his second season in charge of Chicago and the body of work he is building is confusing and doesn’t look particularly good. If things start to go sideways or a player goes on a streak tonight, we’ll have to hope that Hoiberg doesn’t blow up any process or game plan he has to chase the hot hand.