Heat dominate Bulls to advance in Play-In Tournament
Tyler Herro and the Heat had it going right from the start. Another performance like that could catapult Miami into the playoffs.
Herro scored 38 points, and the Heat dominated the Chicago Bulls 109-90 on Wednesday night to advance in the Play-In Tournament.
Herro scored 23 points as Miami grabbed a 71-47 halftime lead, and the Heat knocked the Bulls out of the play-in for the third year in a row. They play at Atlanta on Friday for a chance to meet top-seeded Cleveland in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Hawks lost to Orlando on Tuesday.
"We're only halfway there," coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We didn't have the luxury of having the one game and then you're automatically in. Guys feel great about this win and really put a lot into this. This is not something that could just happen overnight. I feel like there's been some good things happening the last several weeks."
Getting to this point hasn't been easy for the Heat. There was the standoff with Jimmy Butler that ended with a trade deadline deal to Golden State in February, and a 10-game losing streak in March. Miami then won eight of 12 to close the regular season and finish 10th in the East at 37-45.
Against Chicago, Herro made his first eight shots and was 13 of 19 in the game.
Andrew Wiggins had 20 points and nine rebounds. Bam Adebayo added 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Davion Mitchell chipped in with 15 points and nine assists. The Heat had 10 steals and seven blocks, and it all added up to payback for a three-game sweep in the regular season.
Josh Giddey had 25 points and 10 rebounds for Chicago. Coby White scored 17, though he shot 5 of 20. Nikola Vucevic finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
"We didn't really have game-plan discipline," White said. "We beat them in the regular season. We thought if we just do what we normally do, then we'll be good. But obviously, they've got guys that have been to the finals. They've got guys that know what it takes. They got a head coach who's one of the best head coaches in the league. They came in and they were the better team tonight."
The Bulls got within 13 early in the fourth quarter, only to get shut down the rest of the way and miss the playoffs for the third year in a row.
"A lot of us made big-time buckets at the right time," Adebayo said.
Herro set the tone, making all eight shots as the Heat broke the game open in the first half. He was hardly a one-man show, with Wiggins scoring 12 in the half and Adebayo adding 11 points and seven rebounds.
Bulls disappointed in their own efforts
This was the third straight year the Heat played the Bulls out of the Play-In Tournament.
It was a disappointing effort from a Bulls team that showed signs of life down the stretch, but is clearly a long way off from being a serious playoff contender.
"I think we kind of got out of character of how we have played for a pretty long stretch," said Bulls Head Coach Billy Donovan, "and give them some credit, because they probably did some of that to us — and some of it, we've just to got to have a better awareness of situations that led to some of that."
Giddey said the Bulls failed to live up to their expectations.
"We came out, we beat these guys three times this year. We probably had that at the front of our mind — it's like we beat them already, we know what to do, we can do it — and we just didn't. They punched us first. We didn't respond the way we had to, and it's a sour way to end it," said Giddey. "We thought we were much better than the way we played tonight. We're sure that we can compete with anybody in this league, and tonight just was one of those nights we couldn't get it going."
White said the team's work is cut out for them, particularly during the offseason.
"It's really disappointing, losing to the same team three years in a row with the same way," he said. "Just got to be better, got to learn from it. Got to come into the summer knowing that like, we can't keep putting ourselves in this position."
Giddey is restricted free agent, and is one of the big decisions looming this summer as the Bulls try to avoid putting themselves in this play-in position again next season for a fourth straight year.
