© Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
Chicago Bulls fall to the Miami Heat 118-100
A few nights after completing the biggest win of their season so far, the Chicago Bulls fell flat once again and lost to the Miami Heat, 118-100, on Monday night at the United Center. The loss was the team’s sixth at home, dropping their record to 5-10 for the season.
Let go of the rope in the fourth
Although the Bulls didn't face a 21-point deficit in the first quarter as they did on Saturday night, they trailed from the very beginning until the final buzzer, unable to seize the lead not even once.
Still, Chicago was within striking distance, down by just 12, 93-81, at the start of the fourth. However, unlike Saturday night’s game, where they came all the way back and won the game 102-97, Miami held their ground and uncorked a 13-5 run to start the fourth to raise their lead to 20, 106-86, with 7:51 left.
The Heat led by as much as 24, 118-94, after consecutive buckets by rookie ace Jaime Jaquez Jr. Miami was so dominant in the penultimate period that star wingman Jimmy Butler did not see a single second of action in the fourth.
“We set the tone our last game too, we just let up a little bit, so I’m glad that we did not do that. I love that. Let my teammates be great. They can have all the minutes, and I’ll sit back and relax and enjoy the show,” Butler said.
Heat big man Bam Adebayo had 23 points and 11 boards, while Butler, who starred for the Bulls for six seasons, had 16 points. Duncan Robinson continued his torrid shooting and had 22 points, highlighted by six three-pointers. Jaquez Jr. added 19 markers.
Bad start again
Chicago’s awful trend of bad starts continued on Monday night as they trailed by 10, 12-2, less than three minutes into the game. Overall, there weren’t many positives from the game except for one, which LaVine pointed out.
“We weren’t down 20-1 this game, so that’s a positive,” LaVine said.
Coby White paced the Bulls with 20 points, while Nikola Vucevic added 18 points and eight rebounds. DeMar DeRozan and LaVine had quiet nights, scoring 15 and 13 points, respectively.
