Hawks win OT thriller 123-122 over Bulls on Griffin’s game-winner

The Atlanta Hawks chances in this Sunday evening game against the Bulls seemed to bounce with every possession of the late fourth quarter and overtime. It took a gorgeous game-winning lob and flip from Atlanta’s latest two draft picks, Jalen Johnson & A.J. Griffin, to fend off a ferocious comeback attempt from Chicago. Despite, multiple missteps down the stretch, the Hawks improve to 14-13 as they conclude the eighth week of the season.

Atlanta welcomed De’Andre Hunter back into the lineup tonight, with Trent Forrest replacing the injured Dejounte Murray, providing solid defense in the backcourt. The first quarter started off evenly matched. It was capped off positively for Chicago with a very impressive heave, banked in by Coby White as time expired, taking a 27-22 lead for the Bulls into the second quarter.

The Hawks were able to recover, however, and found themselves with an eight-point lead at halftime, in large-part thanks to 12 points from Bogdan Bogdanovic in the quarter. He would finish with 28 on the night. This was a welcome sight, as Trae Young suffered from some poor shooting, as he went 5/18 (27.8%) from the field. He did however, show up when it counted.

The Hawks enjoyed a comfortable lead through most of the third quarter, but in the fourth, the Bulls were able to close the gap. Down the stretch, DeMar DeRozan seemed unable to miss, chipping in 12 points in the all-important fourth.

The Hawks seemed to have the game in hand, and defended DeRozan’s game-winning attempt well, but it was rebounded by Derrick Jones Jr., who was fouled. “Airplane Mode” was unable to hit two free throws however, only tying the game at 110 at the end of regulation.

Overtime was similarly thrilling, going back and forth down the stretch. It was another fantastic display of shotmaking from Bogdanovic and Young that seemed to all but put the game to bed.

But, a poor defensive decision by Bogdanovic on a DeRozan three-point shot sent DeRozan to the charity stripe to put the Bulls ahead by one. Once again, the game seemed over. But thanks to the heroic antics of Griffin and a pin-point pass from Johnson, the Hawks were able to snatch victory from the jaws of the Bulls, and take some positive momentum into the second leg of this back-to-back against Ja Morant and the Grizzlies in Memphis on Monday evening.

Stay tuned.