NBA highlights on April 17: Coby White makes Bulls forget Zach LaVine

The Chicago Bulls beat the Atlanta Hawks 131-116 in the NBA Eastern Conference play-in tournament game at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on Wednesday, earning the opportunity to continue to compete with the Miami Heat for the final playoff berth in the East.

The best-performing player of the game was undoubtedly Coby White, who shot 15-for-21 from the field to drop a career-high 42 points for the Bulls. Four of the five shots he made were from downtown, which showed how efficiently he charged the paint off the dribble. No matter whom the Hawks sent to guard him, he tore through their defensive line like a hot knife through butter.

The Bulls have not met expectations since they built the "Big Three" of Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic in August 2021. LaVine made only 25 appearances for the team this season due to injury and conflict with the front office. White, who the Bulls drafted with the seventh pick in 2019, earned coach Billy Donovan's trust back this season, starting in 78 of his 79 regular season games, averaging 19.1 points, 5.1 assists and 2.6 triples at 37.6 percent per game.

The Bulls were below league average on the offensive end and had the third-slowest pace of all 30 teams during the regular season, but their attacks on Wednesday night were dominant. The team went 54-for-95 in field goals (FGs) and exploited all of the Hawks' nine turnovers to the best advantage, leading 19-14 in fast break points.

Both DeRozan and Vucevic did good offensive work. The former made 10 of his 19 shots to get 22 points and nine assists. Meanwhile, the latter had a double-double of 24 points and 12 rebounds. Ayo Dosunmu contributed 19 points by making three triples and added two blocks for the Bulls.

Donovan didn't seem to have made any ingenious plan for Wednesday's game, but his players implemented the fundamentals well, including attacking the opponents' defensive weak links, feeding the big men for easy buckets in penetration, and making extra passes to set up open shots behind the arc.

By contrast, the Hawks disconnected most on both ends of the game in Wednesday's game. They had too many individual attacks by Trae Young, Dejounte Murray and Bojan Bogdanovic. Young was baffled by the defense of Alex Caruso, missing all three of his shots in the first quarter and delivering five turnovers. Bogdanovic struggled to make shots, especially outside the 3-point line. Murray made a series of tough shots to get 23 of his 30 points in the first half but lost his magic when the Bulls invested more defensive attention in him in the final two quarters.

One piece of bad news may sour the Bulls' victory. Their best perimeter defender, Caruso, played less than 18 minutes on Wednesday night due to injury. His teammate Andre Drummond stepped on his foot in transition and ran into him at half-court. According to ESPN, Caruso suffered a "significant" left ankle sprain.

The Bulls will visit Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, to challenge the Heat on Friday.

Embiid switches on late to save the day for the 76ers

The Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Heat 105-104 in the other play-in tournament game in the East on Wednesday at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, making the playoffs as the No. 7 seed. They will play the New York Knicks in the first round.

Joel Embiid had a double-double of 23 points and 15 rebounds for the 76ers, but 11 of his points were scored in the fourth period, including eight in the final 166 seconds. He didn't have his best shooting touch in Wednesday's game, as he missed 11 of his 17 FG attempts. Meanwhile, the 76ers appeared unprepared for the Heat's persevering in zone defense for nearly the whole game. It was difficult for Embiid to receive the ball in his sweet spots. Even after he had the ball, other defenders would come immediately to double-team him or steal his ball.

Two effective changes the 76ers made in the second half enabled them to come back from a 12-point deficit in the first half. First, they launched zone defense, which shut down the Heat's attacks. Second, Nicola Batum was given a bigger role and knocked down five of his six triples in the third and fourth quarters, punishing the opponents for trying to contain Embiid at the cost of leaving him open from downtown. The 76ers led 99-96 when there were 25 seconds left. Tyler Herro used Bam Adebayo's screen to pull up and shoot a 3-pointer, but Batum managed to block it, which was critical to his side's victory.

The Heat have been well-known for their zone defense for years but didn't expect to trip on that stone themselves. The whole team shot as poorly as 14-for-39 behind the arc in Wednesday's game, failing to crack the 76ers' defensive line open from the perimeter. Their ace, Jimmy Butler, had 19 points, five assists and five steals but made only five of his 18 shots. He appeared to have sustained a medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury to one of his knees on Wednesday night, according to ESPN, and will undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on Thursday to determine its severity.