The Hawks score 50 points in the fourth quarter and finish off the Bulls

1. The Hawks never gave up even though the Bulls had a 17-point lead halfway through the fourth quarter. They refined their defense, forced stops, grabbed rebounds and pushed the Bulls from the 3-point line.

Then the Hawks generated offense from their defense, outscoring the Bulls by 24 points in the final six minutes. Center Clint Capela and forward De’Andre Hunter blocked shots on Bulls center Nikola Vucevic and forward Patrick Williams. The Hawks converted both.

On offense, two free throws from Hawks forward Jalen Johnson broke the team’s deficit, while Young fanned the flames with a three-pointer before hitting Dyson Daniels for a three-pointer.

Young, who finished the game with 27 points and 13 assists, scored the game-winning 3-0 point with 3:03 left and helped the Hawks to a 50-25 win over the Bulls in the final quarter. He only had one turnover.

“We wanted to keep trying to run and attack and not panic,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said.

2. Johnson has stabilized the Hawks this season and allowed him to assert his presence. The Hawks have expanded Johnson’s role on the team, leaning on him as a scorer, facilitator, rebounder, defender and voice in the locker room.

The 23-year-old scored 30 points and had 15 rebounds in Thursday’s comeback. But aside from his four dunks, he scored those points quietly.

“It’s going to be a really simple answer, but literally everything it takes to help my team,” Johnson said.

3. The Bulls’ Jevon Carter, who scored 26 points, hit a running 3, then drew a foul but missed the free throw in the opening period. A little over a minute later, he drew and completed another four-point play. He then made a three-pointer, hit a step-back jumper and then a wide-open 26-footer at the top of the key. He hit another running 3-pointer that extended the Bulls’ lead to 29-16 with 1:36 left in the first quarter.

If it wasn’t Carter, it was Zach LaVine destroying the Hawks from deep. Every time the Hawks reduced their deficit, LaVine rose above his defender and fired a shot from long range.

As the Hawks sent multiple defenders to LaVine, he quickly shoveled a pass to the rim to a teammate who drove in and finished at the rim. LaVine finished the game with 37 points, five rebounds and seven assists.

4. Larry Nance Jr. scored 10 points in the second quarter, helping the Hawks cut the Bulls’ lead to just five after trailing by as many as 16 points in the first quarter. Nance provided a veritable explosion of offense off the bench.

He hit a 3, prompting the Hawks FanDuel 404 crew to chant “Save Us Larry.” He then made a running layup and then hit another three-pointer from the corner before finishing his game-winning drive with a dunk after setting up a pick for Young.

But the veteran also gave the Hawks a defensive boost when he stood up and blocked a dunk from Bulls star Jalen Smith. The stop gave Johnson a chance to dunk in transition.

5. Hawks rookie Zaccharie Risacher shot at the referees in Thursday’s game after he picked up his fifth foul in the second half of the game after he blocked a shot from Coby White and the referees called him for the contact. But Risacher didn’t like it after going through many no-calls, and his emotion sparked criticism that the team ultimately lost. But he rallied during the timeout and continued to drive into the paint.

Stat knowing

50 – The Hawks’ 50-point fourth-quarter surge was just four points shy of the franchise record (set February 2, 1970) for points in a quarter.

Quotable

““Our crowd was really there all night, and at a time when we needed it most, they were there.” – Hawks coach Quin Snyder.

Next

The Hawks end their homestand on Saturday by hosting the Heat.