CHICAGO — Coby White scored a career-high 42 points and the Chicago Bulls advanced to the play-in tournament, eliminating the Atlanta Hawks with a 131-116 victory Wednesday night.
White, whose previous high was 37, played hard throughout the game and had fans chanting his name down the stretch as the Bulls cruised past the Hawks.
Chicago travels to Miami on Friday to try its luck against the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and a first-round matchup against Boston.
The Heat lost 105-104 to Philadelphia on Wednesday.
Dejounte Murray led Atlanta with 30 points.
But the Hawks fell short again after losing their last six regular season games.
Nikola Vucevic had 24 points and 12 rebounds for Chicago.
DeMar DeRozan finished with 22 points and nine assists.
Ayo Dosunmu added 19 points after missing the final four games of the regular season with a right quadriceps contusion, and the Bulls shot 56.8 percent from the field.
Atlanta’s Trae Young and Clint Capela each scored 22 goals. Young, who missed 23 games late in the regular season with a torn ligament in his left pinky, had 10 assists but committed six turnovers. Capela grabbed 17 rebounds. Bogdan Bogdanovic added 21 points.
The Bulls led 88-85 when Vucevic made a 3-pointer with 4:59 left in the third quarter to start a 17-2 run.
White had the fans roaring when he scored on a neat spin around Young and fed a sharp Javonte Green for a dunk.
White then scored on a layup following a Dalen Terry block to make it 105-87 with 1:27 left in the third.
The Bulls led 40-22 after closing the first quarter on a 16-2 run, punctuated by Dalen Terry’s dunk following an Alex Caruso steal.
Young committed five turnovers in the period.
The Hawks got back into it quickly, scoring 14 straight points to start the second.
The Bulls regained the lead at 58-44 midway through the quarter when a spinning Dosunmu blocked De’Andre Hunter, drawing a huge roar from the crowd, and DeRozan broke for a three-point play.
The Hawks made another push late in the half, pulling within three in the final minute.
But Caruso answered an alley-oop dunk from Capela with a 3 and Chicago headed to the locker room with a 73-67 lead.
Following
Bulls: The Bulls and Heat split four games, with each team winning one on the road.
New York Post
