CHICAGO — Norman Powell scored nine of his 33 points in overtime Friday night, and the Chicago Bulls beat the Atlanta Hawks 125-117 at United Center to end an eight-game losing streak.
Chicago let a seven-point lead get away in the final 2:22 of regulation before Powell took over the extra period. Josh Giddey had 15 points, 10 rebounds, and 14 assists for his first triple-double of the season, and the Bulls improved to 2-9. Both teams are 1-1 in East Group C of the NBA Cup, and Atlanta fell to 7-6.
Chicago played its first game without rookie Caleb Wilson, who has a fractured bone in his right hand.
Norman Powell Takes Over In Overtime
The Bulls led 98-87 with 8:23 left after opening the fourth quarter on a 10-2 run. The Hawks outscored them 23-12 the rest of regulation, and the last seven of those points came in 74 seconds after Powell’s driving bank shot made it 110-103. Jalen Johnson tied it with a transition dunk off a Dyson Daniels pass with 1:08 left.
Onyeka Okongwu’s layup to open overtime gave Atlanta its first lead since early in the first quarter. Powell answered with eight of Chicago’s next 10 points, on two three-point plays and a step-back jumper, for a 120-115 lead, and Matas Buzelis’ 3-pointer from Giddey with 23.5 seconds left made it a six-point game.
Atlanta had erased an 18-point deficit and an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit to force overtime, but Hawks coach Quin Snyder’s team scored only seven points in the extra period.
“I didn’t feel like we were tired,” Snyder said. “You know, [Powell] hit some tough shots in the overtime, which I thought we defended pretty well. We made a couple of adjustments that our guys executed that I thought were really good. And I think as much as anything, you know, you put yourself in a position where you got to make a lot of plays. And we made enough to get where we were. But, you know, there’s kind of that game goes back and forth. And, you know, it went back one too many times.”
Turnovers Keep Atlanta Within Reach
The Bulls scored 33 points in the first quarter and led 46-28 early in the second after an Isaac Okoro 3-pointer. Atlanta came back on Chicago’s mistakes, and Luguentz Dort’s breakaway layup tied it 83-83 after three straight Bulls turnovers late in the third quarter.
The Hawks scored 34 points off Chicago’s 25 turnovers and outscored the Bulls 66-46 in the paint. Chicago made up for it from deep, going 20-of-50 from 3-point range while Atlanta went 8-of-40.
Okoro played 40 minutes and finished with 15 points and a plus-18. Bulls coach Tiago Splitter called him probably the team’s best point-of-attack defender, and Okoro also scored on a cut off a Nic Claxton pass in overtime.
“Offensively, sometimes it doesn’t show in the numbers, but he’s a connector out there,” Splitter said.
Johnson finished with 27 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists on 11-of-26 shooting for Atlanta. CJ McCollum scored 20 off the bench, and Okongwu had 17.
Splitter’s team had not won since Oct. 23 at Milwaukee.
“It’s not easy to lose a lot of games,” Splitter said.
Chicago visits the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday at 7 p.m. CT. Atlanta visits the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday at 7 p.m. CT.
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