The Chicago Bulls defeated Miami 102-97 on Saturday night, led by 23 points from DeMar DeRozan, ending the Heat’s seven-game winning streak.
The Bulls were forced to attempt a comeback after falling behind by double digits for the third straight game. The Bulls rallied fiercely in the fourth quarter to end their three-game losing streak, despite trailing 22-1 midway through the first quarter and with boos ringing from the home crowd.
Out of the five Chicago starters, Alex Caruso scored eleven points and finished in double figures. Zach LaVine added 13 points, Coby White scored 14, and Nikola Vucevic added 15.
The Heat led the game until the very end thanks to 25 points from Jimmy Butler. But in the closing seconds, Butler missed two 3-pointers. Bam Adebayo recorded his seventh double-double of the year with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Robinson Duncan added 17.
With 51.8 seconds left, Alex Caruso’s 3-pointer in front of the Heat bench gave the Bulls their first lead of the game. With 22 seconds left, DeRozan made a game-winning turnaround 18-foot fadeaway to put Chicago ahead for good. With five seconds remaining, DeRozan made two free throws to put the game out of reach despite a terrible shooting performance that started both from the free throw line and the field.
Before LaVine ended the Bulls’ shooting drought with a running jumper more than seven minutes into the first quarter, the team missed its first ten shots and trailed 22 to 1.
This was the teams’ first meeting since the Heat defeated the Bulls in a Play-In Tournament game in April, coming back from a late fourth-quarter deficit. The Heat then made their unlikely run to the NBA Finals by making it into the playoffs.
