Coming off an ugly defensive performance in which they gave up 131 points to a league-average offense in the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday evening, the Atlanta Hawks needed to find some confidence on that end of the court. Even though Atlanta was extremely undermanned in the frontcourt in Wednesday’s defeat, a game in which they simply could not find a defensive solution, a game like that can serious do damage to a team’s confidence.
Then on Friday, Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine came along and put up a whopping 39 points on them by halftime, even though Atlanta’s best defender, Clint Capela, was back on the floor after having missed the contest against Memphis.