Bulls vs. Hawks final score: Chicago blows out Atlanta again, 136-102

At least we know the Bulls can demolish the Hawks.

The Bulls beat the Hawks by 20 points in Atlanta earlier this season in one of their best performances of this disappointing year. With the Hawks in town the night after a heartbreaking overtime loss to the Heat, the Bulls took advantage of their schedule advantage and wrecked Atlanta yet again, 136-102.

It was a historic night:

Zach LaVine’s red-hot shooting led a red-hot Bulls team that shot 57.4% from the field and 11-of-24 from 3-land. LaVine poured in 35 points on 12-of-16 shooting and 7-of-7 on 3-pointers:

This is the second time this season in which LaVine has responded from a rock bottom moment with some ridiculously hot shooting. Remember, his historic Hornets explosion came the night after he was yanked early against the Heat, and this big game comes after he faltered in a big way late against the Raptors.

The Bulls actually didn’t get off to the best of starts in this game, with the Hawks going up by eight points in the first quarter as Trae Young picked apart their defense with his passing. Alex Len and Cam Reddish were pouring in buckets, and nightmares of a hideous loss flashed before my eyes.

The Bulls quickly flipped the script, though, going on a 14-0 run thanks in large part to Denzel Valentine making four floaters as he continues to play well off the bench. The Bulls led 37-33 after one quarter and kept the Hawks at arm’s length in the second quarter before finishing the half on a 10-0 run to take a 66-52 lead into the break. The run was punctuated by Kris Dunn eating Trae Young’s lunch with a pick-pocket, resulting in a Shaquille Harrison dunk on the other end just a tick before the buzzer.

The Bulls then scored at will in the third quarter, pouring in 40 points as LaVine and Co. simply couldn’t miss. He had 17 points on 5-of-6 shooting (4-of-4 from 3) in the quarter as Chicago shot 15-of-20 as a team:

The fourth quarter was all garbage time as the Hawks quit and the Bulls ran up the score, getting easy basket after easy basket.

Naturally, the Bulls got stellar performances from up and down the lineup. Lauri Markkanen continues to show signs of life this month with 22 points on 8-of-9 shooting:

Wendell Carter Jr. added a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Dunn helped hold Young to 15 points on 4-of-14 shooting (1-of-6 from 3) and seven turnovers. Young did have 13 assists, but he never got comfortable as he struggled again versus Chicago.

Off the bench, Coby White had 19 points despite not making a 3-pointer. Thaddeus Young stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points, nine rebounds, six assists and three steals. Valentine didn’t do much scoring after his four straight floaters (10 points for the game), but he racked up five assists, four steals, three rebounds and two blocks The Bulls had 15 steals as the Hawks turned the ball over a whopping 23 times, leading to 36 points.

The Bulls have played their share of ugly basketball this season, but they’ve been absolutely dominant against the Hawks. While Atlanta is one of the worst defensive teams I’ve ever seen, at least the home Bulls didn’t mess around against a bum team like we’ve seen in other games recently. They never let up once they got a big lead and simply embarrassed the tired visitors.

The Bulls are now 9-17 and have another game against the Hornets on Friday.