Hoopinion: Hawks 116 Bulls 92

[Hawksquawk]

Boxscore

Team	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
ATL	94	1.234	47.9	25	43.1	9.6
CHI	94	0.979	44.9	13.5	16.3	12.8

A sketchy third quarter effort offensively threatened to deflate the cushion Chicago's ill health provided but consistently excellent work on the offensive glass and a fourth quarter attack heavy on the frontcourt (7 points from Marvin Williams, 6 from Al Horford, 4 each from Zaza Pachulia and Jamal Crawford, and 2 from Josh Smith before Vinny Del Negro conceded matters) made for a comfortable win and a very professional effort on the road on the back end of a back-to-back.

The best part of those points the frontcourt scored in the fourth quarter? The three assists Joe Johnson recorded while taking (and missing) just two shots. Johnson didn't score in the second half until 3:24 was left in the game and the Hawks were up 17, but unlike the fourth quarter against Milwaukee, Johnson stopped shooting after an 0-3, 0 assist, 1 shot clock violation, and potentially spirit-crushing third quarter.

In a sign both of Chicago's weakness and the importance of looking, if not solely at the big picture, at least at the minutiae both good and bad, Mario West played well. On an unequivocally fine defensive possession, he stripped Derrick Rose on Chicago's final first half possession and, in garbage time, dunked on Joe Alexander to the delight of every evaluator of amateur talent in need of cheap gratification.

Quote, notes, and links to follow (later than normal) tomorrow...

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