The Chicago Bulls dominated Atlanta's defensive schemes all night long on Saturday.
While the Hawks were able to do nearly the same against the Bulls' shoddy-at-best defense concurrently, it ultimately cost them the game in absolutely heartbreaking fashion against their perennial play-in rivals.
Chicago touted an impressive 66 points in the paint against Atlanta's beaten, battered, and bruised interior force - losing Kristaps Porzingis to recurring illness has truly taken Atlanta down the pecking order in the East.
The Chicago Bulls started off this season in stunning fashion, erupting to a 5-0 start, including key victories against the Magic, Pistons, Knicks, and even the Hawks themselves - four of the top five projected Eastern Conference teams to begin the year.
Since then, the Bulls have cooled down significantly, emerging with an embarrassing 8-15 record following their 5-0 start to the year. Despite this, they've still pulled a number of impressive wins out of this mixed bag in this stretch, including two more victories against the Cavaliers, a win in Denver, and an earlier matchup against Atlanta.
The Bulls have Atlanta's number this year, especially in the paint
Having deja vu? I wouldn't blame you - the exact same trend that plagued the Hawks over and overr again in the 152-150 loss to the Bulls happened play-for-play nearly two months ago.
The Bulls emerged with another narrow victory against Atlanta on October 27th of this year in a gut-wrenching 123-120 loss for the Hawks. Just like last game, the Bulls poured in 64 points in the paint - just two shy of their metric in the December matchup.
In total, Atlanta has allowed an average of 65 PIP per game to the Bulls in their two showdowns - nearly fifteen points greater than their defensive average all year long.
Paint defense continues to plague Atlanta, allowing the 12th most points in the paint amongst all NBA teams to start the season. Atlanta is also one of only eight teams to allow over 50 points in the paint over the last two seasons.
The Hawks will have one final opportunity to right their ship against the Bulls on December 23rd - after this battle, they won't see the Bulls for the entirety of the regular season. Here's hoping Atlanta won't run into their play-in peers once again this year, and Onsi Saleh's higher hopes of playoff success are finally realized.