The Atlanta Hawks closed the second quarter with a 18-2 run to take a 63-45 lead over the Chicago Bulls into halftime. Atlanta lost to Chicago 76-74 on Tuesday and nearly equaled that offensive performance in the first half.
Offensively the Hawks are smoking hitting over 61 percent of their field goal attempts including 8-9 from beyond-the-arc. Those threes have come from everywhere including out of the halfcourt and in transition. Vladimir Radmanovic hit all four of his three-point attempts and leads Atlanta with 14 points at halftime.
Josh Smith got Atlanta going early and also finished the half with 14 points. Joe Johnson finished with a flurry including a buzzer beating runner on Atlanta's final possession of the half. Johnson has 12 points at the intermission.
Chicago's second unit brought the Bulls back from a first quarter deficit behind the play of Taj Gibson who leads the team with nine points. Carlos Boozer has eight points and Derrick Rose just four points at the half for Chicago.
Atlanta knows full well that the Bulls can overcome a big lead having blown a 19 point lead to Chicago earlier this week. Thus far Jeff Teague has been able to do a good job of containing Derrick Rose and that will be key as the second half plays out.
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