The Chicago Bulls snapped their three-game slump in incredible fashion, coming back from a massive 21-point deficit to defeat the Miami Heat, 102-97, on Saturday night at the United Center. Aside from stopping their slide, Chicago also ended Miami’s seven-game winning streak to drop the Heat to 8-5.
DeMar DeRozan scored 23 points, including a tough fadeaway jumper that put the Bulls up, 99-97, with 21 seconds to go. Nikola Vucevic had 15, Coby White added 14, Zach LaVine pitched in 13, while Alex Caruso produced 11 as all five Bulls starters scored in double-figures.
Terrible start leads to a 21-point deficit
In what is becoming a concerning trend, the Bulls played like they were in a haze to start the game, and the Heat were quick to pounce, building a 22-1 lead halfway through the first quarter. The Bulls’ fans did not hesitate to make their sentiments known as boos resounded all over the United Center.
The Bulls, though, recovered and trimmed the deficit to 50-40 at halftime.
“We’ve been here before,” LaVine said. “It’s a trend that we don’t want to have. We’re going to have to nip it in the bud sooner than later. We haven’t figured it out on why it’s multiple times coming from behind.”
Finished strong
While the Bulls’ rallies in their last two games did not end up with wins, this one versus the Heat finally did. Chicago trailed by 10, 85-75, with eight minutes to go in the game, but a corner triple by DeRozan tied the game at 94-all with 1:39 left.
After a miss by Heat star Jimmy Butler, Alex Caruso propelled the Bulls in front with a huge three-pointer.
Butler, though, responded with a triple of his own to tie the count at 97-all, time down to 42 seconds. That set the stage for DeRozan’s fourth-quarter magic. He sized up the Heat’s Jaime Jaquez Jr.
Before fading away to can the midrange jumper for a 99-97 Bulls lead.
Butler then inexplicably rose up and missed a three-pointer badly, and DeRozan split his charities for a three-point Bulls cushion. Torrey Craig then bothered Butler enough to miss another three-point, and DeRozan made two more from the line to seal the Bulls’ win.
