The Chicago Bulls were all-offense, no-defense against the Atlanta Hawks in a Sunday matinee.
But that offense was quite stupendous, and Chicago outlasted the home team to win its third straight game at the buzzer, 152-150. This represents the Bulls’ first three-game win streak in 2025-26 since their 5-0 season start.
That 152-point tally represented a season-high for the Bulls, as did the team’s 57.6 percent field goal conversion rate and its 41 assists, per K.C. Johnson of Chicago Sports Network. Johnson adds that this marks just the third time in the history of the franchise that the Bulls have logged 41 assists in a game. Granted, that’s due in part to the club’s breakneck pace (and the poor transition defense of Atlanta), but the shooting efficiency was special.
With the win, Chicago improves to 13-15 on the year. Let’s get into it.
First Half: A Fast Start
A 21-10 Bulls run to start the game, capped by an Isaac Okoro trey, prompted a Quin Snyder timeout. Atlanta immediately responded with five straight points.
A pocket pass from center Nikola Vucevic to point guard Josh Giddey for a rare dunk helped stop the bleeding a bit, but ultimately, a 12-4 Hawks response prompted a near-complete Billy Donovan early bench substitution. He brought in a guard-heavy Okoro-plus-bench unit comprising point guard Tre Jones, shooting guard Ayo Dosunmu, swingman Kevin Huerter, and center Zach Collins. The team’s movement-heavy offense was a spectacle to behold.
Donovan leaned on his double-big minutes early again. Generally, he has trotted out Collins with Smith, but this time, he tried a Vucevic-plus-Jalen Smith lineup in the first frame.
Chicago just couldn’t quite contain Atlanta, despite its robust start. The Bulls built up another lead, 34-26, with 2:36 remaining in the quarter. Three straight Hawks triples sparked a 9-0 Hawks run, and Atlanta overtook the lead. The back-and-forth period ended, fittingly enough, tied at 38-38.
Chicago passed for 14 assists in the first quarter, their most yet for an opening frame this season. Patrick Williams, seeing some early-quarter minutes, managed to actually connect on a pair of drives late.
The Bulls pulled away a bit in the second quarter thanks to the efforts of Buzelis in particular, who had nine points in the frame. Four-time All-Star point guard Trae Young, still recovering from an MCL sprain that has cost him much of the season, remained a menace and tried to keep Atlanta in it a bit.
© Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn ImagesAfter taking a hard fall midway through the second quarter, forward Jalen Johnson — arguably now Atlanta’s best player — departed the game for the Hawks locker room. He would return later, but his absence was felt.
Chicago finished the break with an 83-73 edge, in a frustratingly defense-free first half.
In fairness, the Bulls only have a few plus defenders, so Donovan is putting the team in the best position to succeed with his quick, 3-point-heavy offensive attack. The team’s insane 83-point start, on an impressive 60.9 percent field goal shooting, represents the highest-scoring first half of the season for Chicago so far, per KC Johnson — who also noted that their 21 assists also represented a new season-most for a half.
Following a bullish 24-point performance in the Bulls’ 136-125 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday, power forward Matas Buzelis paced Chicago in the opening half again, scoring 14 points on 5-of-5 field goal shooting (4-of-4 from distance). Coby White, Okoro (!), and Kevin Huerter each chipped in 10 points for good measure.
Second Half: More “Cardiac Bulls” Moments
Chicago teams seem set on giving their fans a heart attack this weekend. The stakes of Saturday’s overtime Bears nail-biter may have been higher, but Sunday’s clash was no less nerve-wracking.
Buzelis was working on a perfect game through the first three quarters, having gone 8-of-8 from the floor by the end of the third (5-of-5 from deep). The Hawks rallied, 42-33, to pull within a point, 116-115, heading into the final period.
As tends to be the case this season, Vucevic’s defense can reach borderline respectability when he’s getting enough looks and the game is close. Thus, we were treated to another Good (For Him) Vucevic Defensive Game against the Hawks.
Okoro, an Atlanta-area native, missed significant time in the second half after being whistled for five fouls, but was back out on the floor to hopefully close out the game (more on this in a second).
Donovan tried some hockey substitutions for a bit as regulation wound down, swapping Jones and Buzelis in for each other down the stretch of the fourth quarter. But Okoro fouled out with 41.5 seconds remaining, prompting Donovan to bring Jones back alongside the other starters. It was strange to see the slighter Jones get the nod defensively over Ayo Dosunmu late, but Donovan evidently liked what he was seeing from the team’s newly re-signed guard.
Chicago, which had once led by as many as 11 points, lacked the defensive alacrity necessary to create true separation from the Hawks for any sustained period. It’s the exact problem that kept things unnecessarily close for much of the Bulls’ eventual victory against Cleveland on Friday.
The Bulls finally seemed to be doing just enough to secure a win, but some errant late free throws kept things interesting. White split two free throws with 48 seconds remaining. Chicago led, 149-142, and seemed safe — temporarily. Okoro fouled out just a few seconds into the next Atlanta possession with some contact on Johnson, who quickly iced his free throws. White was fouled by All-Defensive Hawks guard Dyson Daniels to stop the clock. Had he nailed both, the game would effectively have been over. Instead, he missed the first before recovering to make the second.
Peter Creveling-Imagn ImagesSuddenly, the game was within two possessions at the 38-second mark. A Trae Young triple 15 seconds later brought the Hawks within three points.
White was fouled by Atlanta while dribbling the ball at halfcourt to again pause the clock. The 6-foot-4 UNC product again went 1-for-2, putting the Bulls up four points with 18 seconds remaining. But Johnson was not to be denied, and nailed an off-balance triple to cut Chicago’s lead to a single point, 151-150, with 4.9 seconds left.
Giddey inbounded to Buzelis, who was briskly fouled by Young for his first free throws of the day. He tragically went 1-of-2 from the charity stripe (although, as Stacey King pointed out, a roaming Nickeil Alexander-Walker raised his hands and made noise behind him to provide a technically-not-allowed bit of distraction), leaving the door wide open for more Young heroics and a potential Hawks victory in regulation with 4.2 seconds left. The Hawks called their one remaining timeout to reset.
Young took an inbounds dish off Dyson Daniels and tried to draw a foul from Tre Jones (who drew the final defensive assignment over Dosunmu) while falling down on an elbow fadeaway as time expired. The refs didn’t bite, and Chicago won.
Beyond Buzelis’ 28-point outburst, Giddey finished with a quiet 19-point, 12-assist, nine-rebound near-triple-double, on 6-of-12 shooting from the field and 5-of-8 shooting from the charity stripe. Despite White’s four missed free throws, he still wrapped up the game with 21 points on 6-of-13 shooting (3-of-7 from 3-point land) and five assists. Every rotation player who logged time, not named Patrick Williams or Jalen Smit, finished with 10 or more points.
On the other side, Johnson led all scorers with 36 points on 12-of-21 shooting from the field and 10-of-11 shooting from the foul line, plus 11 rebounds and nine assists. Young chipped in 35 points and nine dimes.
Next up for the Bulls is a rematch against Atlanta on Tuesday. Chicago will have another opportunity to stack wins with back-to-back matchups against two other thoroughly “mid” clubs in the Eastern Conference, the Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks, after Christmas.
Numbers to Remember
Buzelis’ 28-point night, a season-high, was his second straight 20-point achievement after a 24-point effort on Friday. Per K.C. Johnson, it represented the first time the second-year pro has scored 20 points in two consecutive NBA contests.Matas Buzelis has back-to-back 20-point games for first time in career
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) December 21, 2025 A whopping nine Bulls finished in double digits against Atlanta. The win over the Hawks is the third straight time Chicago has had seven or more double-figure scorers and 34 or more assists. Buzelis went 7-of-8 from distance, a new career high in made treys. That single 3-point whiff represented his lone miss from the field for the game. The Bulls dominated the jump-shooting Hawks in the paint, outscoring Atlanta 66-50 in the interior. Chicago went an insane 20-of-42 from distance (47.6 percent), although they also couldn’t contain Atlanta from beyond the arc. The Hawks shot an even better 23-of-47 from outside (48.9 percent). Jones played two more fourth-quarter minutes (five) than Dosunmu (three), in what is quickly becoming a late-game Donovan trade as he seems to be leaning more on Jones’ footspeed than Dosunmu’s wingspan to cover guards at the point of attack. The Bulls’ edge in bench scoring highlighted Chicago’s offensive depth when everyone is healthy and facing zero defensive resistance. The Bulls’ bench outscored the Hawks’, 57-31. The Bulls are now 10-8 in clutch games this season, an encouraging metric that speaks to Chicago’s ability to nab buckets when it matters most. Chicago, whose 17.8 fastbreak points per game heading into the clash ranked fourth in the NBA, scored 26 fastbreak points to Atlanta’s 22.Hence then, the article about near perfect buzelis near triple double giddey push bulls to third straight win vs hawks december 21 2025 was published today ( ) and is available on Bleacher Nation ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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