ATLANTA — It was the best workout for Coby White.
The Hawks entered the Sunday matinee fifth in pace; the Bulls were second.
So White had to tighten up those laces and get ready to run; defense was optional.
This was just what he needed.
It wasn’t vintage White in the Bulls’ 152-150 victory — well, not the White who averaged 24.5 points and shot 49.4% from the field in 26 regular-season games after the All-Star break last season — but it was progress.
White scored 11 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter. It was his fourth 20-plus-point game in his last five starts, and the Bulls (13-15) have won four of those games.
He looked drained as he sat by his locker after the Bulls’ third consecutive victory.
“This game, I ain’t gonna lie, the first couple of minutes, I remember I came to the bench, and one of our assistants, [John Bryant], was like, ‘Man, this game is a track meet,’ ’’ White said. ‘‘I said, ‘You have no idea.’ So I knew from the jump that it was going to be one of those games.”
Just what coach Billy Donovan ordered.
After injuring his right calf in late August, White missed all the late-summer scrimmages, training camp, the preseason and a handful of regular-season games.
Even when he returned, it was on a minutes restriction, then he had to sit again with a strained left calf. So for White, regarded as the face of the team, running with the Bulls hasn’t come easy.
The numbers showed it. He entered the game shooting 21.2% from three-point range and averaging 18.7 points in December. White also is averaging a career-worst 2.8 turnovers.
“As fast as the league is playing and as we’ve tried to play, I do think he’s got to catch up physically to get in better shape,” Donovan said. “I do think the conditioning part, the timing and the rhythm, he’s got to get back. The more he plays consistently and we don’t have the situations where he’s been in and out, if he can — knock on wood — stay healthy, I think his stamina and endurance will come back.”
White say he’s at about 80%.
“This is one of those games that helped me, for sure, in terms of my conditioning,” White said. “We’re, like, the two fastest teams in the NBA, so I was tired.”
He also had to be feeling a bit stressed.
As well as the Bulls played offensively, they missed key free throws down the stretch to give the Hawks life. After Jalen Johnson made a three-pointer with 5.9 seconds left to cut the lead to one, Matas Buzelis, who had a team-high 27 points, went to the foul line. He split the free throws, however, to give the Hawks one more chance with 4.2 seconds left.
Atlanta’s Trae Young tried to draw the foul on a 16-footer, but he missed the basket and didn’t get a call.
The Bulls had nine players in double figures and 41 assists. And White had a workout that he needed.
“I’m still trying to get it back,” White said. “I’ve never not had a training camp and preseason, so my agents kind of warned me about it.
‘‘It’s different because everybody else is way ahead of you conditioning-wise.”