It was Carlos Boozer who carried Chicago. The oft-criticized forward finished with 27 points and 12 rebounds. This was Boozer's best game of the season, and he has really picked up his game in the past week.
Helping Boozer was Kirk Hinrich, who scored, dished and handled both Heat point guards on defense. Joakim Noah also chipped in with 13 points and 12 boards making his Defensive Player of the Year candidacy known. Noah seems to enjoy playing Miami more than any other team. Nate Robinson and Taj Gibson came off the bench to make plays down the stretch, holding the lead for the Bulls.
This win for Chicago came on a night when Luol Deng really struggled with only six points. The Bulls also didn't shoot the ball well, hitting only one three-pointer in the first half. Their defense just dominated and made Miami work for every single point.
Like everything about Miami, it starts with LeBron James. He scored 30 points and shot the ball well, but his meager two assists are a glaring stat after consecutive games where he was a great distributor. Of course, it would've helped his assist count if the Heat were better from three. They went 5-20 from distance and the entire bench could only manage 11 points.
Dwyane Wade was the other bright spot for the Heat. He had 22 points on 11 shots and is on a nice run of four straight 20-point games. But not he nor LeBron could ever get a sequence of domination tonight. Miami needed one of them to take over late, but neither seemed up for the challenge.
Here's the takeaway for this game. We saw the Bulls, the NBA's hardest-playing team, play one of their best games this season against a team they have plenty of demons against. To Miami, this rivalry may seem watered down without Derrick Rose, but Chicago should at least scare them a little. The Bulls have size and toughness to make life very hard for the Heat. This would be an extremely tasty second-round series in the East.
Tomorrow afternoon I breakdown another rivalry, Lakers-Clippers. Stay posted.
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