McCaffrey: Kyle Korver Torches The Bulls
By Brendan McCaffrey-
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Turns out there was one solution to cool down Atlanta guard Kyle Korver on Saturday night at the United Center -- strapping ice bags to his knees in the visitor's locker room after a 107-99 victory over the Bulls.
A former Bull, Korver displayed the deadly 3-point shot he's known for, stopping any and all Chicago attempts at coming back in the game. Korver finished 7-of-9 from behind the 3-point line, leading all scorers with 24 points as the Hawks won their 12th consecutive game and second straight against the Bulls.
"It starts with defense," Korver said after the game. "You don't get to get out and run and do all those things if you don't get a stop first, and you gotta get the rebound. I thought we did that tonight and that was such a big key. Once we did do that we were able to get out and run, and that's usually when we're clicking."
Sounds like advice the Bulls should listen to, as they got outworked and outmaneuvered in their third straight home loss.
"If I had any answers, I would tell you," point guard Derrick Rose lamented. "Once again, communication, trusting and just the effort. It's frustrating, very frustrating. We've got to get it together if we want to go far."
Perhaps the answer lies in how the Hawks go about their business, as Korver's postgame comments mentioned the word "work" several times.
"We all truly know this, (that) we haven't accomplished anything yet," Korver said. "We're still building what we're doing and who we are. Everyone's bought into that up to the halfway point (of the season). We feel good about our team, but we know there's a lot of work ahead."
"I think (Atlanta) set the pace tonight, and we can't let that happen," Bulls guard Jimmy Butler added. "We could pick up something from what they do."
What the Hawks did Saturday night was stretch the Bulls defense with superior spacing, crisp passing and an almost unstoppable pick-and-roll game that kept Chicago at bay. After the Bulls trimmed Atlanta's lead to 90-83 with 5:51 left in the fourth quarter, the Hawks scored on six of their next seven possessions.
The Bulls again played without forward Mike Dunleavy, who missed his eighth straight game with a right ankle injury. The team has a 3-5 record with Dunleavy out, a player whose talents most resemble Korver on the current roster -- a floor-spacing 3-point shooter with sound team defensive skills.
At 33, Korver is enjoying one of his best seasons in the NBA, on a Hawks team that has surprised many to lead the Eastern Conference at the halfway point of the season. Korver discussed some of the similarities between his current Atlanta team and the 2010-11 Bulls, who also unexpectedly took the East by storm in the regular season that year.
"When I was first here in Chicago, we had players who were hungry," Korver said. "We had some talent, but we had players, kind of like this group (in Atlanta) who hadn't really accomplished a whole lot yet. It's learning how to be a pro, learning how to do daily work and learning how to play hard every night."
The grind of 11 seasons and 849 career games hasn't worn down the veteran marksman yet.
"I love basketball. I love playing basketball," Korver said. "You don't get tired of basketball when you get older. People stop playing basketball because their bodies break down. Right? No one retires because they just don't wanna do it anymore. People say that, but that's not true. They're lying. They don't play anymore because their body broke. My body feels really good right now, knock on wood."
For good measure, Korver actually turned and knocked on the wood trim around his locker.
Meanwhile, the Bulls search yet again for answers after getting torched by a former teammate. Coach Tom Thibodeau all but threw up his hands explaining how to get his team back on track, competing with the Atlanta Hawks' of the league.
"This is our reality, " Thibodeau said. "This is what we've got to deal with. We've got to figure it out, whoever is being called upon, get in there and get the job done."
Brendan McCaffrey is the sports director at 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter @b_mccaffrey.