Instant Takeaways From The Hawks Loss Against The Bulls

1. Hawks took advantage of the Bulls weakness

Coming into tonight's game, ironically, the Hawks and Bulls ranked in the bottom half of the NBA in points per game allowed in the paint, which both teams tried to take advantage of. For Atlanta, however, they attacked the Bulls in the paint, scoring 66 points there, and would switch between posting up and running plays to free up lanes to the basket. The Hawks would also capitalize on Chicago's poor ball control, scoring 24 points off the Bulls' turnovers and 21 fastbreak points.

2. Kristaps Porzingis and Jalen Johnson dominate

For Atlanta, the combination of Porzingis and Johnson has worked wonders, especially when they are on the court together, creating constant matchup problems for Chicago. Porzingis scored 16 of his 27 points in the first half, and Johnson scored 15 of his 25 in the first half as well to keep the Hawks ahead by one heading into halftime. The Bulls had no answer for them, as they got easy baskets all over the court thanks to their activity around the court, leading to open shots on the perimeter and in the paint.

3. Hawks defensive problems continue

One of the Hawks' main focuses this season was defense, and so far, that has been one of the team's worst aspects, as they are already one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA. Tonight, this continued as they were taken advantage of inside the paint and on the fastbreak, giving up 22 fastbreak points. The Hawks' main issue was giving up 15 second-chance points and getting outrebounded 62-42. Atlanta tried to combat this by pressuring the Bulls in full court and playing under screens to prevent easy paint scoring, but unfortunately, it didn't work in their favor, and they blew a 13-point lead and gave up a 20-4 run in the third quarter.

4. Trae Young

While Young finished the night with a double-double, his offensive struggles early in the game continued, as he was 2-for-11 from the field at the half. The positive side to this was that Young didn't turn the ball over much and played at a high level, finishing with 21 points and 17 assists, but he struggled shooting, going 7-22 from the field and 1-10 from three-point range. The main takeaway for Young is that he will need to find a balance between playmaking and efficient shooting if the Hawks are going to win these close games.

5. Onyeka Okongwu

One of the more quietly consistent players for the Hawks to start the season has been none other than Onyeka Okongwu, who is off to a potential career-year start. In tonight's game, Okongwu got his first double-double of the season as he scored 18 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, dished out two assists, and had a steal and a block. One of the more glaring moments of this game for him was his three-point shooting: he made 4/6 from three. The main issue he had tonight was free-throw shooting, as he went 0/4 from the line.