Chicago Bulls analyst Stacey King compared Jimmy Butler to Michael Jordan last night, and that came before Butler’s game-winning, buzzer-beating three-pointer to give the Bulls an 83-82 preseason win over the Hawks. You read that right, a former teammate of the GOAT compared Butler to MJ during a preseason game. This is the world we inhabit in the year 2014.
In their fifth preseason game of 2014, the Chicago Bulls struggled offensively in the first three quarters against the Atlanta Hawks. After 36 minutes of action of Thursday night, the Bulls trailed the Hawks by 21 points, with the scoreboard sitting at 47-66. However, the Bulls kicked their offense into a higher gear in the fourth quarter, exploding with 38 points. Additionally, they stepped up their defensive effort in the final period, holding the Hawks to under 20 points (18 points scored) for the first time in the night.
To give the Bulls the needed boost to sustain their fourth quarter momentum, Coach Tom Thibodeau put his starting lineup on the court midway through, while Atlanta relied on their bench to close the game. Coach Thibs’ strategy paid off as Jimmy Butler tied the game at 82 from the charity stripe with 14 seconds left. The Hawks’ Dennis Schroder made a layup to give his team the advantage, but 1.5 seconds were left remaining on the clock.
As it turned out, 1.5 seconds was all the Bulls needed to steal the game from the Hawks. Kirk Hinrich threw the inbounds pass to Butler above the three-point arc, and Butler launched up the last-second prayer, before seeing the ball swish through the net as time expired.
Butler’s buzzer-beating three to win the game capped off a stellar outing for the Bulls two-guard, as 20 of his 29 total points came in Chicago’s fourth quarter rally. He added five rebounds, two steals and two blocks to his stat sheet on Thursday night.
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