Flying into Chicago as the clear favorites, the Hawks lost a heart-wrenching overtime thriller to the Bulls. While Atlanta battled heroically to force overtime, in the end their poor shooting proved too much to overcome.
The Hawks' poor outside shooting has become a trend they can't seem to shake - fortunately, Atlanta can glean at least one glimmer of hope from an otherwise disastrous loss to Chicago: consistent inside scoring.
Hawks' season-long shooting woes just won't let up
Against Chicago, the Hawks converted on a dismal 8/40 (20%) of their 3-point shot attempts, falling leagues behind the Bulls' 20/50 (40%) conversion rate in the same field. Ironically, Chicago ranks dead last amongst all teams in 3-point efficiency this year - tough luck for the Hawks.
Atlanta just can't seem to correct their long-range inefficiency. Just a week into the 2026-2027 season, the Hawks were already causing concerns from range, especially in their frontcourt.
Things haven't exactly spun 180 degrees yet for Jalen Johnson and company just yet. While the Hawks' 34.1% metric from range as a team isn't quite break-a-mirror bad, it's certainly not where the team was hoping to be a month into the year.
In fact, the Hawks rank 20th among all 30 NBA squads in distance shooting efficiency, a far cry from their 6th-best conversion rate last season, at an impressive 36.7%.
Atlanta's potent interior attack - the only silver lining
In spite of all of the failure on the perimeter for the Hawks, Friday night had in store one promising sign for an Atlanta team searching for their offensive identity in the post Trae Young era.
The Hawks poured in a ludicrous 66 points in the paint against the Bulls, while conceding a meager 46 to the home team on the other end of the floor.
Hawks fans may remember from last season the absolute dismantling the Bulls put them through in the very same aspect - on October 28th of last year's young 2025-2026 campaign, Chicago scored a near-equal 64 points in the paint en route to a victory against the Hawks.
While the outcome was ultimately the same against the Bulls this season, an air of optimism surrounds a Hawks team that no longer seems timid on the offensive interior. Once the shooting rolls around, Atlanta seems poised to become one of the league's most threatening offenses on a nightly basis.
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