The Bernstein Brief: Hawks Expose A Bulls Issue
By Dan Bernstein--
CBSChicago.com senior columnist
(CBS) When Jimmy Butler finishes with 39 points and Dwyane Wade is good for 25, it should be a fair assumption that the Bulls earned a victory, even as Fred Hoiberg's team is playing faster and higher-scoring style.
But NBA games are about fourth-quarter possessions and still enough about defense that it wasn't the case Wednesday night in Chicago's 115-107 loss at Atlanta, and the Bulls struggled in large part due to Rajon Rondo's inability to shoot.
The Hawks led by six to start the fourth, and it became clear that coach Mike Budenholzer's plan was to have Rondo's man sag off of the player shooting 35.2 percent and 3-of-15 from 3-point range. Atlanta's defense rotated help to the ball consistently, leaving Rondo open and often with the ball finding its way to him with the shot clock running out.
Rondo finished the quarter 0-for-5, including two missed threes. Wade was 1-of-4 in the fourth, and the hot-hand Butler was 3-of-7, including three misses from deep. The extra defender buzzing around was a hindrance.
Rondo wasn't the primary problem the Bulls had for the balance of the game -- that would be their overall bench contribution on both ends -- but it showed what a disciplined defensive team could do expose a critical weakness when it mattered.
Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's "Boers and Bernstein Show" in afternoon drive. You can follow him on Twitter @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.