Whether it was the return of the Udonis Haslem of old or the always useful 50+ points contribution from ex-MVP's Wade and James, the Heat most certainly threw the cat amongst the pigeons in their 85-75 over the Bulls in Chicago. A first win in 5 outings between the two teams this season. Many did expect the Heat to produce a fightback after Rose and the Bulls ran away in Game 1 of this Conference Finals series 103-82. But those many expected it to happen in Miami. Not on Rose's home turf. Now, the Bulls have to win in Miami to get back home-court advantage (achieved by finishing with the best season record in the entire league). Something that you think would have happened anyway as the Chicago outlet seemed to be Lebron's boogey team.
First things first, it wasn't a "Game 7 of the Finals" type of performance and the Heat can be grateful to Rose who just had "one of those nights". 21 points (JUST!) and 8 assists. Miami's defensive game won them the this game, even with 6 less rebounds then the Bulls. Miami's 47% shooting outclassed Chicago's 34% (with Deng and Korver being the main culprits with only 2 three pointers out of a combined 12). Haslem's minutes and 13 points kept the Heat just that bit in front and when the game was tied at 73-73, Lebron and Wade led the Heat with a 12-2 run to cap of a 10 point win (although Asik's facial injury brought Noah back in which probably helped the Heat more then the Bulls).
Not much can be taken from this game. I think the Bulls will feel that, even on an "off-night" like last night, they were still in the game up until the last few minutes (where it could have literally been anybodies game). Rose WILL NOT have another poor/average game like that this series and Luol Deng & Kyle Korver will probably spend that extra hour here and there practicing 3 pointers.
For the Heat, they will be happy with their first win over the Bulls this season and on Chicago's turf. They now have 2 home games where they will hope their new "Big 3 + 1" (James, Wade, Bosh + Haslem) can bully the Bulls (see what I did there?) to take a 3-1 series lead before a return to Illinois.
No comments:
Post a Comment