Atlanta Hawks: Hawks 100, Bulls 88

Save for the nitpicks of a few blown transition chances, a handful of fumble-fingered turnovers and some missed Js from Smoove (before he started beasting) and some shots Al passed up (before he started dunking), what was there not to like about the Hawks tonight?

• They shared the ball. They defended. They rebounded. They competed. They didn’t allow D-Rose easy passage to the basket. They finished furiously as their fans roared and the Bulls faltered.
• “I think we played like a desperate team,” L.D. said.
• It was a fine team effort with lots of standout individual performances.
• J.J. decisively danced through Chicago’s defense and may not have made a bad decision all night. Al finally got physical with Noah. Teague looked like a seasoned pro. Jamal didn’t force it against double teams and made just enough key baskets to keep the Bulls honest.
• And in the second half Smoove showed how he can control a game by defending, rebounding, running and attacking the basket.
• Josh had steamed for two days about the criticism for his Game 3 performance. Maybe a ticked off Smoove is the best thing for the Hawks.
• “He has taken the criticism well,” Al said. “I think he has kind of taken it all in. It’s been the media but it’s [also] been the coaches, it’s been us telling him. He kind of put it together and finally we saw what he is capable of doing. We need him to keep that intensity.”
• The boos for Smoove turned into cheers by the end.
• “When people don’t understand the game and don’t know the game it really doesn’t faze me,” Josh said. “When people are here night in and night our cheering for the Atlanta Hawks, minus the postseason, for the playoffs, that’s what matters to me. And my teammates matter extremely more than anybody else. They believe in me and have confidence in my game. They told me to stay with it.”
• It was Smoove, Teague and Al on the attack in the fourth quarter as the Bulls were fixated on J.J. and Jamal. L.D. will have plenty of video to show the Hawks how they can get high-percentage shots from ball movement, quick decisions by the guards and the bigs cutting to the basket.
• “Something has to be open,” Jamal said. “You get two guys on you something has to be open. I thought Joe and myself did a good job with that tonight.”
• D-Rose did what he could. He scored seven straight points to keep Chicago in it early in the fourth. He got to the basket against good challenges for scores that tied it at 82-82 and 84-84.
• But after Teague’s tough layup, Josh forced Rose to miss on a drive. Josh passed ahead to Teague, who dropped it off for Al’s layup on the break.
• “That was big just staying with it and guys not getting discouraged with Derrick hitting his shots and sticking with our game plan,” Al said. “I think the energy was there. I don’t think we had that so much [in Game 3].”
• “We knew that Rose would try to take it over at that point, which he’s so good at,”L.D. said. “We had to make a conscious effort of everybody zeroing in on him. And I tell you, there were times when I thought we had him corralled but he was able to get in there.”
• The Hawks erupted for 33 points in the final period. “I didn’t like our defense in the fourth quarter,” Tom Thiibodeau said. “I thought we drove the ball hard but didn’t get a call, but that’s the way it goes.”
• The Hawks dogged Rose with double teams. It looked to me like the Bulls actually had good spacing and ball movement but Atlanta’s rotations were sharp and persistent all night so Rose’s supporting cast was held down.
• Korver missed a couple open looks but never really could shake free despite running around through all those screens. Noah had 11 rebounds but didn’t get the putbacks. Deng was 1 of 4 after halftime.
• Rose scored 13 of Chicago’s 19 points in the fourth quarter while taking 12 of their 17 shots.
• “It was a tough game tonight but we’ll make no excuses,” Rose said. “If they double team me in the next game, we’ll just have to do a better job of executing. I had some turnovers in the fourth quarter that hurt is and we didn’t play as well down the stretch.”
• The “big” lineup paid dividends but not the one with Twin. He lasted just 12 minutes, didn’t get a rebound and had problems chasing Boozer in the crossmatch but Zaza had nine rebounds in 25 minutes.
• “Give them credit,” Boozer said. “Their bigs were very active.”
• Marvin was just 0 for 5 but he was solid defensively early. He had a couple blocked shots at the rim, one of them against Rose.
• Teague is more impressive with each game. Tonight he had a good feel for when to attack and when to pull the ball out. “He played like a professional,” Jamal said. “A couple times he controlled the tempo in big moments. It helped us. He runs the show. He’s always keeping pressure on the defense. We need that.”
• Joe didn’t play a big role in the furious finish (except of course for drawing attention that helped his teammates) but he was superb through three quarters: 22 points, 8 of 11 field goals, four assists, one turnover. When he dribbled it was purposeful. He got away from pressure to the middle of the floor where the traps weren’t as effective.
• The Hawks started fast, a development that surprised Damien: “I ain’t gonna lie, I was kind of nervous at shootaround today because the mood was very somber. There wasn’t a whole lot of energy. It kind of felt like we were down 3-0 and about to play the Michael Jordan Bulls. But we responded well.”
• Ref Bennett Salvatore said he didn’t mean to blow his whistle with 2:27 to go on a play where Jamal made contact with Rose. “I didn’t think it was a foul,” Salvatore told a pool reporter. “Having watched the replay after the game, it was a foul and I should have called it. I made a mistake.”
• Smoove won the jump ball and on the ensuing possession passed to Al for a dunk that made it 92-84.
• “At that time of the game, I’ve never seen an inadvertent whistle,” Thibodeau said. “But Bennett is a good official who said he missed the call. He’s still a good official. He’s human and we all make mistakes.”

Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat