By John Hollinger
ESPN.com
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ATLANTA -- When the Atlanta Hawks acquired guard Kirk Hinrich at the trade deadline, coach Larry Drew had a vision for how his skills might allow his team to defend against elite guards. On Wednesday, his plan went to perfection.

Atlanta used the combination of Hinrich and Joe Johnson to shut down Chicago star Derrick Rose, enabling the Hawks to rally from a 19-point deficit and stun the Bulls 83-80.

"Joe will be matched up at times with some of the point guards," said Drew, who normally used Johnson to defend point guards with any offensive ability whatsoever due to Mike Bibby's shortcomings. "But now [Hinrich] gives me the luxury of matching [Johnson] up late. Whereas matching up early, it can wear him down."

Witness this game, in which Hinrich did all the dirty work through three quarters, but the bigger Johnson took over down the stretch run. With fresh legs, Johnson denied Rose off the ball and forced a turnover as Carlos Boozer attempted a handoff, and went in for a dunk that put Atlanta up three with 20.6 seconds remaining; out of timeouts, Chicago's two desperation tries for a game-tying 3-pointer came up empty.

"When I noticed him taking the ball out," Johnson said, "I wanted to deny him, because I knew he'd throw it in and get a handoff. I just wanted to deny him the best I could and make Boozer throw a tough pass."

For the night, Rose finished 5-for-21 with six turnovers, with an especially ghastly second-half line: 1-of-11, two points, six turnovers. In holding the Bulls to 80 points, it continued an Atlanta defensive renaissance that coincides exactly with the trade for Hinrich. In four games since acquiring him, the Hawks have allowed just 85.5 points per contest; three of them were on the road and three were against winning teams.

"They did a good job on him," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. "I thought he had some shots he normally makes that he couldn't put down."

Of course, defense is not a one-man operation. And even without ace shot-blocker Josh Smith, Hinrich and Johnson had plenty of help behind them while surrendering a meager 30 points after intermission. The most notable came from Marvin Williams, who moved up to the 4 spot during crunch time and snuffed what appeared to be a wide-open Rose layup with a spectacular rejection.

"I was just trying to make a play," Williams said. "I was telling these guys, it was a split second from going the other way, he probably could have put me in the basket. He's an explosive jumper, but that didn't cross my mind; I just went after it."

Johnson struggled offensively, shooting 5-for-20, but contributed nine assists -- helped by the fact that Al Horford was unstoppable in the second half. He scored 22 points after the break and matched his career-high with 31 for the night, including his first 3-pointer of the season as the Hawks started clawing back in the third quarter.

"When he shot that 3 in the corner," Johnson said, "I knew he was rolling. So I just wanted to make sure I got him the ball in the sweet spots."

For Chicago, a few mental errors will likely stand out. Thibodeau thought the team began getting "loose" late in the first half, with a botched two-on-one on its final possession being the standout play.

"Those have to be layups," Thibodeau said. A poor delivery from Luol Deng and a sloppy finish from Rose resulted in a Keystone Kops rim-checked dunk try, and instead of leading by 20 at the break the Bulls were up 17.

In the third quarter, the Bulls -- who normally play as hard as any team in the league -- were guilty of inexcusable lethargy when Williams went in for a transition layup over Deng and missed. No other Bulls ran down the court, leaving Horford with an easy follow dunk.

"It disappointed me," Thibodeau said. "For the most part we hustle and we play hard. [But] I was concerned when we had the lead, because I didn't like how we were playing."

In the final minute, Thibodeau was upset with Joakim Noah's over-the-back foul 90 feet from the basket that sent Horford to the line. Horford made one free throw to tie the game at 79.

"We beat ourselves at the end," Thibodeau said. "Their energy picked up as the game went on. And our frustration, because we weren't scoring, impacted our defense."

Indeed, Chicago still led by four with 1:20 left before a Williams 3, Noah's over-the-back foul, a botched pick-and-roll coverage that gave Horford a dunk and Johnson's steal and bucket put the Hawks on top.

The result, though frustrating for the Bulls, was one of the most riveting 83-80 games you'll ever see. And, because of the continued impressive defensive results, it was also a game that adds a further dose of legitimacy to Atlanta's post-trade aspirations of challenging the Eastern Conference's top four teams.

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