Short handed Bulls squashed by Hawks

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ATLANTA–Jeff Teague scored 19 points, Al Horford added 18 and the Atlanta Hawks snapped a three-game losing streak with a 103-88 victory over the short-handed Bulls on Friday night.Paul Millsap had 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Hawks, who ended a four-game home skid – their longest since April 2007.The Bulls, who had won three straight, played without its top three scorers because Jimmy Butler, Derrick Rose and Nikola Mirotic were nursing injuries. A sore right hamstring sidelined Rose for the second straight game.Doug McDermott finished with 20 points and Paul Gasol had 16 points and 17 rebounds for the Bulls.Gasol’s jumper cut the deficit to eight in the last minute of the third quarter, but the Bulls couldn’t get any closer.Horford dunked on Teague’s alley-oop pass and followed with a 3-pointer to make it 95-80 with 3:20 remaining.The Hawks are 1-3 on a five-game homestand. Miami beat Atlanta without stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, and Milwaukee ended a six-game road losing streak by knocking off the Hawks in double overtime.Atlanta also was outmatched by NBA champion Golden State on Monday despite taking a brief lead early in the fourth quarter.Butler, an All-Star, has been out since Feb. 5 with a sprained left knee. Mirotic is recovering from appendicitis, and Joakim Noah, the Bulls second-leading rebounder, is sidelined with a sore shoulder.The Hawks hit just one of their first 18 attempts from beyond the arc before Tim Hardaway Jr. made it 51-42 in the last minute of the second. They finished 7 for 34 as Kent Bazemore and Kyle Korver combined to go 2 for 14.Bazemore scored 17 points. NOTES—Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg met with Rose before Wednesday’s win over Washington to discuss his injury. ”He talked about the pain that he had,” Hoiberg said. ”He talked about not being able to play his game, being cautious out there.” The Bulls don’t want Rose, the 2011 NBA MVP, pushing himself after operations on both knees. Hoiberg didn’t have an immediate timetable for Rose’s return….The Bulls have lost five straight on the road. … In the 109-105 win over Washington, the Bulls had seven players score in double figures. Only three finished in double figures Friday. Taj Gibson had 11 points. … Hoiberg said Mirotic is still ”a couple of weeks away” from returning…..Atlanta, which led the Eastern Conference with 60 regular-season wins last season, moved into sixth place, one game ahead of the Bulls. … The Hawks avoided their first five-game home losing streak since December 2006. … Atlanta has won five of six against the Bulls…Kirk Hinrich, acquired last week from the Bulls in a three-team trade, entered with the Hawks up 17 late in the fourth. He missed his only shot, airballing a 3 from in front of the Bulls’ bench. … Atlanta led by six at halftime….The Bulls Host Portland on Saturday.