G League regulars stun as hurting Hawks down Bulls

Field Level Media|published: Wed 15th January, 22:42 2025

Jan 15, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Keaton Wallace (2) shoots against Chicago Bulls forward Dalen Terry (25) during the first half at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images

Keaton Wallace scored a career high 27 points and Daeqwon Plowden chipped in 19 off the bench on 7-for-8 shooting in his NBA debut to boost the short-handed Atlanta Hawks to a 110-94 win against the host Chicago Bulls on Wednesday.

Missing three starters and their top reserve, the Hawks never trailed while leading by as many as 17 to sweep a back-to-back that started with Tuesday's home win against Phoenix.

Trae Young, who scored a season-best 43 points in that game, was sidelined with a right rib contusion. Jalen Johnson (right shoulder inflammation), Zaccharie Risacher (left adductor irritation), and De'Andre Hunter (left foot soreness) also were out.

With Wallace and Plowden transferred from Atlanta's G League affiliate before the game, most everyone else was in -- if not on -- for the Hawks. Dyson Daniels scored 18 points while Onyeka Okongwu (14 points, 13 rebounds) and Clint Capela (11 points, 10 rebounds) both notched double-doubles. Vit Krejci added 11 points.

Coby White paced the Bulls with 16 points.

Zach LaVine followed with 15 points and Nikola Vucevic had a double-double of 14 points and 16 rebounds. Julian Phillips and Patrick Williams chipped in 10 points each.

Ayo Dosunmu scored nine points for Chicago after missing the past 10 games with a calf injury. Josh Giddey grabbed 10 rebounds.

Chicago committed 20 turnovers and shot 6-for-27 (22.2 percent) from deep. Atlanta finished at 30.2 percent from long range.

The Hawks led 61-47 at halftime.

White hit a pair of free throws for the Bulls in the opening minute of the second quarter to tie the game. The Hawks answered with the next 15 points before the Bulls responded with a 15-4 run.

Atlanta capped the quarter by scoring 15 of the last 20 points. Okongwu punctuated the surge in the last 90 seconds of the half, contributing an alley-oop dunk off a feed from Krejci to go with a late layup.

Atlanta earned a split of the four-game season series, preventing Chicago from securing a tiebreaker as the Hawks climbed 3 1/2 games ahead of the Bulls for ninth place in the Eastern Conference.

Jalen Horton-Tucker left the game for Chicago with a left knee injury.

--Field Level Media

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