There’s a lot of strategy we might get lost with considering Wednesday’s Bulls-Atlanta Hawks 9/10 play-in game for one of the teams to continue its season. There’ll be talk about Trae Young’s no good, very bad defense and Andre Drummond’s get-out-of-my way rebounding, and DeMar DeRozan’s now he’s shooting, no now he’s shooting, no now he’s shooting pump fake. There’s the 180 or so high pick-and-rolls the teams will use, and the usual momentum, stops, downhill and no way that’s a foul.
And then like pretty much every game the Bulls have played this season it probably will come down to three-point shooting.
“That is a team that does give us problems, and now Trae is back and they have Trae and Dejounte (Murray) and Bogdan (Bogdanović), guys who can score the ball and make plays,” noted Nikola Vučević. “We have to match their physicality. They get up a lot of threes. We don’t usually do that, so we’ll have to take care of that as well.”
And there’s the rub.
For all the elements of the game, the result in the three games between the teams this season could almost be attributed to three-point shooting. Though there’s also the defense with the Trae factor. He’s as poor a defender as there is in the NBA, but he also can get as hot as anyone shooting threes.
The one game Atlanta won in the three-game series this season was in Chicago April 1.
In that game in which the Bulls scored 101 points after averaging 127 points in the first two, 15 points more than their season average, Atlanta outshot the Bulls from three-point range 19-7.
In the first two games the Bulls won, Atlanta had a marginal margin of 27-20 on threes, which the Bulls more than compensated for with aggressive defense and rebounding. Atlanta is tied for second in the NBA in giving up the most points per game at more than 120. They’re also in the top-10 in three-pointers attempted and made. The Bulls are bottom five in both three-point categories.
"We've played them quite a bit over the last couple of years, so we know each other well,” said Vučević.
The teams had one of the most historic games in NBA annals in 2019, a four-overtime 168-161 marathon in which Young had 49 points and Zach LaVine 47. Though it was another Bulls era as Otto Porter Jr. spotted actually playing had 31 points along with Lauri Markkanen. Robin Lopez started at center with Wayne Selden, Shaq Harrison and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot contributing. Ah, the memories.
“This kind of comes down to who wants it more, who executes better on the floor, who does the little things,” said Vučević. “I think the talent is pretty similar. It should be a good game, but it will come down to the little details at the end, which will be the difference.”
So as Shaq, the other one, might say, can you dig it!
“Now we have an opportunity to make some other season by giving ourselves a chance,” said DeRozan. “It should be fun; it should be competitive. I’m glad it’s on our home floor first. We can make something happen. They’re extremely talented. They have Dejounte Murray, who’s been playing at a very high level with Trae out. Now Trae is back and that changes the dynamic on their team. They have a lot of young guys on their team who play extremely hard. So it’s going to be a challenge. They kicked our butts the last time we played them. Now we have an opportunity put our money on the table.”
So get ready, one, two, and a big three.
