Bulls find a way to figure out Hawks again, rallying for win

ATLANTA — Coach Billy Donovan was hesitant to share the text message from his dad at first.

He thought about it for a second, remembered that his defense allowed 150 points to the Hawks a few nights earlier and realized it was warranted.

“I don’t know if I should say this, but I got a great text from my dad,” Donovan said Tuesday. “He was texting me about something [Monday] and said, ‘I think I could have gotten 10 last night.’ ’’

Billy Donovan Sr. is 80, but before his text draws a smirk, he was a baller in the 1960s and is still Boston College’s fourth all-time leading scorer.

The way the Bulls and Hawks play defense, 10 might have been underselling it.

And while there was a bit more resistance two nights later, neither team did anything to change opinions in the rematch. The Bulls came from behind late to win 126-123, their fourth consecutive victory.

“I thought we got stops [late],” said guard Josh Giddey, who had his seventh triple-double. “To go 4-0 in our last four headed into this Christmas break was really, really good.”

Credit Atlanta for being in a giving mood.

Down double digits seemingly minutes after the opening tip, the Bulls finally closed ground in the fourth quarter thanks to Nikola Vucevic’s three-pointer that made it 105-100 with just under 10 minutes left.

The teams continued to trade baskets, and with 6:52 left, they almost traded blows.

With play stopped for a Zach Collins foul, Ayo Dosunmu was walking toward the bench and passed by Hawks guard Trae Young, who slapped him on the behind. Dosunmu turned and got in Young’s face as teammates and coaches ran to prevent it from escalating further than light shoving.

The play was reviewed, and both were given technicals.

“No man would like that,” Dosunmu said. “It’s basketball, so anything on the court [as far as trash-talking], I’m fine with it. He was talking the whole game; that’s fine. I don’t care about that. But once you touch … nah, that’s when the line was crossed.”

The incident was forgotten quickly by the Bulls because they had bigger birds to fry. They had to solve a Hawks offense that plays at their same run-and-gun tempo.

Young took a 32-foot circus shot for no reason with 3:06 left and missed. Coby White made him pay, cutting the lead to one with a legitimate three on the other end.

Then the Bulls actually played some real defense. After two free throws by White with 1:43 left, he turned Young over on the inbound. The Bulls didn’t capitalize, but they would by rebounding Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s miss and sprinting down the floor for Tre Jones’ layup and a one-point lead.

After Alexander-Walker missed a three, the Bulls (14-15) increased the lead to three after Giddey made a 7-footer in the paint.

The Hawks called a timeout with 39.3 seconds left, then scored, but they needed a stop, which is not exactly their strong suit. Isaac Okoro grabbed a huge offensive rebound off a Vucevic miss and found White, who was fouled and split his free throws with 12.4 seconds left. That left the door open for Alexander-Walker to tie the game with a layup with 2.2 seconds left.

White was fouled on the inbound attempt by Zaccharie Risacher for an away-from-play foul and made the one free throw. The Bulls maintained possession, and Vucevic all but iced the game with his two free throws.

“It felt great,” Dosunmu said of the road finale. “Just being able to stay resilient, continue to get better. We all know what we’re capable of.”