ATLANTA _ It's tough to play defense in the NBA when you're a healthy, veteran team, much less an injury-ravaged, young one.
Perhaps that's why coach Fred Hoiberg defended the Bulls' much-beleaguered defense before it actually showed some teeth Saturday night in a 97-85 victory over the Hawks at State Farm Arena.
Predictably, the Bulls entered ranked near the bottom of most defensive categories. That included the 29th-ranked rating of allowing 120.5 points every 100 possessions. The Bulls also ranked 27th in points allowed per game.
"Believe me, we watch a ton of film," Hoiberg said. "We're working to get consistent on that end."
Not having their best individual defender in Kris Dunn, their most talkative big man in Bobby Portis and a solid team defender and rebounder in Lauri Markkanen obviously doesn't help. But plenty of the Bulls' defensive issues this season have centered on effort more than scheme.
Transition defense has been consistently inconsistent. Battles for 50-50 balls have been lost.
Jabari Parker raised some eyebrows late Friday night when he matter-of-factly stated the Bulls were unprepared for the Hornets to use double-drag screens, although Parker insisted he wasn't fingering the coaching staff. Hoiberg said he hadn't seen the comments but fielded a question on associate head coach Jim Boylen, who is in charge of the defense, anyway.
"You look at Jim's track record in this league. He had the No. 1 defense in Indiana. He was on some really good Spurs defensive teams. We had a year where we were fifth _ and third after All-Star break," Hoiberg said, citing 2015-16 statistics. "We took a step in the wrong direction the other night. But I've seen growth with our team. We put a lot of effort into it. We have long film sessions. Jim does a great job in those. We have a young team. We have to keep growing, keep working."
In a game that devolved into comically bad status at times, including an airballed Chandler Hutchison layup and a combined 42 turnovers, the Bulls at least ran back harder and defended with more force. It helped that the Hawks didn't make their second two-point field goal until 3 minutes remained in the first half.
The Hawks shot just 32.1 percent, a number for which the Bulls' defense can't take full credit. But the Bulls did rack up a season-high 14 steals and Ryan Arcidiacono outplayed hyped lottery pick Trae Young. For the second time in three games, Arcidiacono posted his career-high with 13 points. Young shot 3-for-12 for 13 points.
"I thought we did a good job of making them take contested shots," Hoiberg said. "We were flying around out there defensively."
Zach LaVine navigated through a sea of double-teaming _ surely a defensive look more teams will employ _ to score 26 points with 11 rebounds. It's the first time in LaVine's career that he has strung together at least five 20-point games.
In a nod to the widespread double-teaming, Hoiberg played LaVine basically at point guard the second half, using the extra space at the top of the floor to try to discourage the practice.
Playing in his hometown, rookie Wendell Carter Jr. posted his first double-double with season-highs of 10 points and 10 rebounds. Parker added 18 points and eight rebounds off the bench, including a crucial 3-pointer with just more than two minutes remaining.
Justin Holiday also sank two critical 3-pointers late as the Bulls shot 7-for-10 from beyond the arc in the final period.
The Bulls begin a four-game homestand on Monday night against the dynastic Warriors. That's followed by matchups with the high-powered Nuggets, the stout Pacers and run-and-gun Rockets. Victories could be hard to come by, particularly with the widespread injury issues.
It's time to get defensive.
