Zach LaVine and Trae Young star with career-best nights as Chicago Bulls outlast Atlanta Hawks in four-overtime epic
Saturday 2 March 2019 10:33, UK
Zach LaVine and Trae Young starred with career-best nights as the Chicago Bulls outlasted the Atlanta Hawks in a four-overtime epic.
LaVine scored 47 points for the Bulls and Young erupted for 49 before Lauri Markkanen's three-clutch free throws in the fourth overtime period settled the game 168-161 in Chicago's favour.
LaVine's career-best haul came in 17-of-35 shooting and included a thunderous tomahawk dunk in the second overtime session.
The Bulls guard was also 6-for-14 on three-point attempts and added nine rebounds and nine assists.
Young's 49 points for the Hawks were a franchise rookie record. He shot 17-for-33 from the floor with six three-pointers and also supplied 16 assists and eight rebounds.
Young became the first rookie since Earl Monroe to produce a game with at least 49 points and 10 assists. Monroe achieved the feat for the Baltimore Bullets against the Detroit Pistons on February 24, 1968.
The Hawks point guard appeared to have won the game in regulation when he made a clutch three-pointer from the top of the key with 2.2 seconds left to give them a three-point lead.
However, with 0.4 seconds left, Young's team-mate Dewayne Dedmon was whistled for a foul on Otto Porter Jr's three-point shot. The Bulls forward made all three free throws to tie the game at 124 and force overtime.
After both teams wasted opportunities to finish the game in the second overtime period, LaVine came to fore in the third extra session, hitting a triple to tie the game with 1:06 left.
Both teams turned the ball over, and Len missed a long three at the buzzer, leaving the game tied 155-155.
In the fourth overtime period, Markkanen's free throws punctuated a 7-0 Chicago run that enabled the Bulls to post their second straight victory and their fifth in six games.
