Billy Donovan is brutally candid about the Bulls’ problems during their loss to the Hawks.

In the Monday night game between the Bulls and Hawks, three-point shooting was crucial.

On Monday night, the Chicago Bulls secured a spot in the play-in round, but not because they prevailed. The Bulls fell 113-101 against the Atlanta Hawks at home, but Chicago advanced to the play-in round after the Brooklyn Nets’ defeat. The team’s current goal is to position ninth in order to earn a home game during the tournament. That mission became a little bit harder after the Hawks’ defeat.

The Bulls are currently only.5 games ahead of the Hawks in the East following the setback. Three-point shooting made all the difference in the contest on Monday. Chicago was only 7/28 from deep, while Atlanta finished 19/40. The Hawks had excellent shooting, and Bulls head coach Billy Donovan is aware that it will be difficult to defeat a team that puts up such impressive stats.

Following the game, Billy Donovan addressed the reporters, saying, “I think some of the threes, quite honestly, were a byproduct of… there’s always a battle at the point of screens offensively and defensively and I thought that really on both ends of the floors they won those battles there in a lot of ways.” That, in my opinion, helped the ball get where it needed to go and occasionally forced us into lengthy rotations. They made excellent field goals, so you have to give them credit for that. They played pretty well defense, so we didn’t shoot the ball nearly as well or make as many threes as they did.

The Hawks capitalized on the Bulls’ blunders as well as their open looks. The Bulls had their chances to capitalize on them as well, but they weren’t as successful.

Bulls were hurt by corner threes.

Billy Donovan expressed his displeasure with the Hawks’ number of corner threes made during the game. Although he is aware that they will occasionally occur, he believes the Bulls should make significant improvements in that area of their defense.

Donovan went on, “It was pulling off the corners and being in the wrong position.” Insufficient awareness from the rear. They were, I believe, six out of nine or maybe seven out of ten from corner threes. It simply shouldn’t happen that we give up corner threes in any fashion. We are responsible for clearing those. You will occasionally find yourself in a bind; they experienced binds as well. Those weren’t the images we took.

The Eastern Conference rankings depended heavily on this game, and the Bulls and Hawks will probably play each other in the play-in round in a few weeks. Chicago is now aware of the things they must do better in order to have a chance to win that game.