The Atlanta Hawks have gotten back their main reinforcement in Trae Young but victory has become elusive for them. Young and Jalen Johnson scoring a combined 71 points is not even enough to push themselves back to winning column.
The Hawks suffered a third straight loss after succumbing to the streaking Chicago Bulls in a high scoring affair, 150-152. Young, who just returned to the team after missing 22 games, scored 35 points and had nine rebounds. Johnson, meanwhile, put up an almost triple double of 36-11-9.
Young had the chance to give his team the win in the last second but he missed the shot through a choking defense by Tre Jones and Josh Giddey.
302 COMBINED POINTS IN REGULATION 😱
Bulls beat the Hawks despite 35 PTS for Trae and 36 for Jalen Johnson 😳 pic.twitter.com/GnKm2iPszV
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) December 21, 2025
This is Young’s highest scoring game so far but he is not satisfied.
“We didn’t win the game. For me, that’s all I care about,” he told reporters after the game.
“I’ve had all the numbers. I put up numbers before. We gotta win, and tonight, we just couldn’t get enough stops. 150 points is plenty enough points to win the game. It’s not like they were stopping us at all; we weren’t stopping them and [they had] transition points. We just got to figure out how to get back and just stop them from scoring fast.”
Jalen Johnson feels embarrassed
Johnson, who has been the team’s leader before Young’s return is just as disappointed.
He is especially critical of their defense wherein they have 80 points in the first half.
“It’s kind of tough winning games when you give up 80 points in the first half,” Johnson said. “It’s kind of embarrassing in a sense. …. Hopefully we cut down on some of the things we’re doing.”
Defense was the main issue for the Hawks as they allowed nine Bulls score in double digits, led by Matas Buzelis who has been struggling offensively lately. He scored 28 points on 10 out of 11 shooting.
Bulls collectively recorded 57.6 percent field goal shooting and were 47.6 percent from the three point line.
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