DeRozan scores 26 in 1,000th game, Bulls beat Hawks 111-100

CHICAGO (AP)— DeMar DeRozan scored 26 points in his 1,000th career game, NikolaVucevic added 14 points and 17 rebounds and the Chicago Bulls beatthe Atlanta Hawks 111-100 on Monday night.

The Bulls(22-24) returned to Chicago after a 126-108 win over the Pistons inParis on Thursday and matched their season high with a thirdstraight victory.

“The secondhalf of the season, you can’t give games back. Everything mattersfrom here in and out,” DeRozan said. “You got to be the desperateones. You got to go out there and compete.”

Trae Younghad 21 points and 13 assists, while Dejounte Murray added 20 pointsfor the Hawks, who have lost two straight after winning five in arow.

The Bullsstarted to pull away in the fourth quarter after Young found JohnCollins for an alley-oop dunk to cut the lead to 91-88. Zach LaVineanswered with a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws before DeRozanmade a 3 to extend the lead to 99-88 with 5:29 left.

LaVinefinished with 20 points.

In theprevious two meetings in Atlanta, both games ended with abuzzer-beater. AJ Griffin beat the Bulls at the horn on Dec. 11 and10 days later, Ayo Dosunmu returned the favor with a follow shot astime expired.

The Bullscontrolled most of the second half.

PatrickWilliams sealed the game with a 3 to put Chicago up 108-95 with1:53 left. Williams finished with 18 points and nine rebounds.

“I thoughtPatrick was really good tonight on the glass. He had some reallyimportant timely rebounds both defensively and offensively. Thatwas important for us in crucial situations,” said Bulls coach BillyDonovan. “He is a guy that has to try to get double-figure reboundsfor us.”

The Hawkslost their key defender De’Andre Hunter before the game to asthmasymptoms.

“They got tworeally good weapons (DeRozan and LaVine) over there and it is hardto guard a lot of guys in this league 1-on-1. So you have to usemultiple guys and when you’re missing probably your best defender,it’s hard,” Young said.

“You aregoing to have to send doubles, you’re going to have to do differenttypes of schemes you (wouldn’t) have if you had him out there. It’sobviously not an excuse why we lost, but I definitely think that’stough when you have two high horses over there.”

Clint Capelahad 16 points and 12 rebounds for Atlanta.

The Bulls led57-48 at the half. LaVine scored 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting.Murray led the Hawks with 15 points. Young was held to four pointson 1-of-6 shooting.

TIP-INS

Hawks: BogdanBogdanovic was back in the lineup after missing Saturday’s loss toCharlotte with a right knee injury. He finished with 11 points in33 minutes. ... THe Hawks had 18 turnovers.

Bulls: GGoran Dragic missed the game with a non-COVID illness. Donovan saidDragic will not travel with the team to Indiana but may re-jointhem during the three-game road trip. ... Bulls were 6 of 25 fromthe floor in the first quarter and 17 of 25 in the second quarter.... DeRozan became the 143rd player to play in 1,000 games or more.... The Bulls began a stretch where they play four games in sixnights in four different cities.