Top 100 moments of the 2018-19 NBA season, Part 2
4. The Chicago Bulls’ and Atlanta Hawks’ epic quadruple-overtime game
Neither one of these teams made the playoffs, nor were they ever close to getting there. Even so, a March 1 clash between the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks became an instant classic when it took a full 68 minutes of game clock to decide a winner.
In just the 15th quadruple-overtime in league history, the Bulls outlasted the Hawks at State Farm Arena, 168-161, in the third-highest scoring NBA game ever. The night was filled with gaudy box scores, incredible highlights and clutch shots to repeatedly extend one of the best games of the season.
Rookie Trae Young continued his torrid second half of the year with a career-high 49 points, 16 assists and eight rebounds, shooting 17-for-33 from the field and 6-for-13 from 3-point range. He also supplied the clutch go-ahead triple near the end of regulation that would’ve been the game-winner if not for a boneheaded foul on Otto Porter Jr. with 0.4 seconds left, and then forced a second OT after a game-tying layup with one second left in the extra period.
The third highest scoring game in @NBAHistory!@chicagobulls/@ATLHawks combine for 329 points as CHI prevails in quadruple overtime, 168-161! #BullsNation #TrueToAtlanta pic.twitter.com/djkBZW3t1g
— NBA (@NBA) March 2, 2019
Young joined Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan, LeBron James as the only rookies with 40 points and 11 assists in a game, but his heroics weren’t enough to overcome Chicago’s well-balanced attack. Not one to be outdone, Zach LaVine recorded a career-high 47 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, as well as one high-flying rocket dunk that sent shockwaves through the arena.
Otto Porter Jr. and Lauri Markkanen added 31 apiece for the Bulls, while Ryan Arcidiacono hit a 3 to force a third overtime. Chicago eventually prevailed in the fourth OT, pulling away on a LaVine layup with 37.1 seconds and eventually finishing it off at the foul line.
This game didn’t have any playoff implications, featured zero All-Stars in their primes and probably wasn’t on many people’s radars heading into the night. That didn’t stop it from being one of the best damn games of the season, or the last 10 seasons, for that matter.