Tuesday night marked the second Chicago Bulls victory over the Atlanta Hawks in three days. They mounted a 16-point fourth-quarter comeback to defeat Trae Young and company 126-123, two days after besting them 152-150 after Young’s buzzer-beating floater attempt missed and he failed to force overtime. This pushes Chicago to 3-0 against their rival this season, and things got testy as the game progressed. Things started with Jalen Johnson chirping Matas Buzelis after successfully converting an inside bucket, proceeded with Young slapping Ayo Dosunmu on the backside on his way to the bench, and ended with Josh Giddey standing up for his teammate. This was Giddey’s hilarious response, and it put the final nail in their third win in three tries this season.
Trae Young Hates To See Chicago On The Schedule
Atlanta’s four-time All-Star guard is undoubtedly one of the best playmaking and three-point shooting guards in the entire league. Despite his short stature and petite frame, his lethal range and elite passing skills make him one of the toughest offensive weapons to defend. He was the NBA’s leader in assists a season ago, and he’s averaging over 19 points and nine assists per night in 2026. The Bulls have always been Young’s kryptonite, with an 8-16 record against them in his eight years. Ayo Dosunmu has specifically been one of the best individual defenders of the former All-NBA guard and owns him in the familiar matchup.
Trae Young averages 24.4 pts, 12.2 ast, 38.4 FG%, 31.8 3P%, and 4.2 tov in the 13 games against Ayo Dosunmu per @statmuse
Dosunmu averages 14.1 pts, 2.4 reb, 3.5 ast, 62.2 FG%, 55.3 3P%, and one game winner.
pic.twitter.com/5eLejUAV10— Bulls On Tap (@BullsOnTap) December 24, 2025
In their lone non-regular season matchup, Young was an abysmal 4-for-12 from the field with six turnovers in the 2024 NBA Play-In Tournament, and was a massive reason the Hawks lost that game and were eliminated from playoff contention.
Josh Giddey Showing Some Fire
Since entering the league in 2021, Giddey has been considered a fairly level-headed player. He only has eight technical fouls in his five-year career, and rarely finds himself in confrontation or quarrels with the opposition. On Tuesday night, after Young chirped, slapped, and got in a skirmish with Dosunmu, Giddey flipped the switch.
Didn't notice this until I rewatched it on the home broadcast, but this is great
Giddey taunts Trae Young, calls him "fucking tiny" after putting the Bulls up 3 in the final 40 seconds pic.twitter.com/vK1twu6HNq
— Will Gottlieb (@Will_Gottlieb) December 24, 2025
This is a welcome sight for Bulls fans, seeing a consistently reserved player break character a bit on behalf of his teammates. Giddey consistently speaks highly of his running mates and has been considered one of the most rapidly rising leaders in the locker room and on the court, and now he’s taking it to the next level.
Chicago has won four in a row and has seemingly reverted to the brand of basketball it boasted at the start of the 2025-26 campaign. Now they’re proving not to be pushovers and giving some resistance to nonsense. Can they use this momentum and that moment of cohesion to catapult a run up the standings? They’re now 2.5 games away from a top-six seed in the Eastern Conference rankings.
