Coby White poured in 42 points — the most he has scored in an NBA game — and the Chicago Bulls remained in the hunt for a playoff spot with a solid 131-116 victory over the visiting Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday.
White made 15 of 21 field-goal attempts and also had nine rebounds and six assists for the ninth-place Bulls, who will visit the Miami Heat on Friday with the winner claiming the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference.
The loss ended the season for the Hawks, who finished the regular season 10th in the East.
White is choosing to ignore the fact that stats from play-in games don’t count toward players’ regular-season nor postseason records.
“I’m definitely counting it as my career high,” he said. “It is here on the stat sheet. …
“I just wanted to be aggressive and take what the defense gave me. Coming into the game, I wanted to make an impact on both sides of the ball, and that’s what I focused on.”
Chicago’s Nikola Vucevic recorded 24 points and 12 rebounds and DeMar DeRozan had 22 points, nine assists and six rebounds. Ayo Dosunmu added 19 points for the Bulls, who shot 56.8 percent from the field, including 11 of 26 (42.3 percent) from 3-point range.
Dejounte Murray had 30 points, seven rebounds and six assists for Atlanta, which lost its seventh straight game. Trae Young had 22 points and 10 assists, Clint Capela added 22 points and 17 rebounds and Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 21 points for the Hawks.
Chicago shot 65.4 percent from the field in the third quarter while turning a six-point halftime lead into a 110-92 advantage.
Atlanta trailed 88-85 after Young drained a 3-pointer with 5:15 left in the third. The Bulls then ripped off a 17-2 burst to open up a 105-87 lead.
A short time later, DeRozan hit a 3-pointer to push the lead to 21. Garrison Mathews sank a trey with 3.1 seconds left to leave the Hawks down 18 entering the final quarter.
Hawks coach Quin Snyder said, “DeMar started making shots and you’re game-plannng to try to get the ball out of his hands. We did a bunch of different things. … Eventually, Coby got going. There were a number of things that challenged us.”
White made two treys in less than two minutes as Chicago’s lead grew to 124-102 with 4:57 remaining. The Bulls’ advantage topped out at 23 points.
Bulls coach Billy Donovan said of White’s effort, “It was great. For him, he really set the tone by getting downhill. He did a really good job of playing aggressively and getting downhill.
“I thought he played a complete game. I know 42 is a huge number and it’s phenomenal, but I thought he defended and got assists. It was a great performance by him.”
The Hawks made 45.1 percent of their attempts and were 11 of 37 (29.7 percent) from behind the arc.
Young said, “We didn’t come out and make enough plays tonight. Coby got going and Vucevic played really well. You have to tip your hat to them. It’s tough.”
DeRozan had 11 points in the opening quarter as the Bulls took a 40-22 lead.
Atlanta rolled off the first 14 points of the second quarter to move within four. Chicago led 58-44 after DeRozan’s three-point play with 5:58 left in the half, but the Hawks recovered to trail by three in the last minute of the period.
Alex Caruso’s late 3-pointer accounted for a 73-67 halftime lead for the Bulls. DeRozan scored 18 points and White added 17 before the break. Murray had 23 first-half points for Atlanta.
Young, in his fourth game back from a left pinkie injury, removed his brace for the second half.
“I wasn’t being as aggressive to start the game,” he said. “I had a few turnovers and was thinking about it too much, so I took the brace off. My doctors probably aren’t too happy with me.”
–Field Level Media
