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 Guard Derrick Rose is sidelined following knee surgery, but the
Bulls now own four wins over the Heat without Rose during the past
three seasons. Forward Carlos Boozer scored 27 points Thursday as
Chicago rolled to a 107-87 victory over Miami at the United Center.
"It's not hard to get up. They're our rivals," Bulls forward Taj
Gibson said. "They don't like us. We don't like them. We're not
going to lay down for anybody. That's the makeup of our team."
Miami was missing guard Dwyane Wade (illness) and forward Chris
Andersen (personal reasons). The Bulls are playing without their
starting backcourt of Rose and Jimmy Butler (turf toe).
Chicago (8-9) knocked down its first six shots from 3-point range
and dominated the glass. The Bulls outrebounded the Heat 49-27 and
posted 24 second-chance points to Miami's six.
"It never let up tonight. They pounded us the entire night," Miami
coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We were just not able to overcome their
physicality."
Forward LeBron James led Miami with 21 points, while forward Michael
Beasley added 15 off the bench.
The Heat's leading rebounder was Beasley with seven. Miami cut into
the rebounding deficit in the fourth quarter. At the end of three,
the Bulls had a 40-14 edge on the glass.
"We have never been a great rebounding team," James said. "We just
have to go out there and get them. It is a group thing for our team.
We don't have a (Kevin) Love, (Joakim) Noah or (Dwight) Howard who
is going to go out and get 15 for you."
Forward Luol Deng finished with 20 points for the Bulls. Gibson
added 19 points, and Noah, Chicago's center, piled up 17 points and
15 rebounds.
Noah talked about using multiple sources of inspiration to get
himself ready for the game.
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"I wanted to win for Derrick Rose," Noah said.
"I think the people in the city, there's something about when
Miami comes to town. They wake up in the morning and just feel
it. The people in the city, they don't like the Miami Heat. We
don't like the Miami Heat."
The Bulls led by as many as 25 points, but Miami (14-5) cut the
margin to 93-81 midway through the fourth quarter. Then, with
James waiting to check in, Deng drained a 3-pointer just before
the shot clock expired to put Chicago comfortably ahead 98-81
with 3:56 remaining.
Early in the third quarter, there was a brief scuffle between
Chicago guard Kirk Hinrich and Miami guard Norris Cole. Hinrich
was given a technical foul and Cole a grade-one flagrant foul.
Before the game, James said he was watching the Bulls' game
against the Portland Trail Blazers on television and saw the
play when Rose was injured.
"I didn't want to believe it," James said. "When I saw them
working on him on the sideline, on the bench, he didn't look
well. I was hoping for the best for him, and obviously, the news
wasn't the best. No doubt (Rose can come back). He's very young
and very determined."
NOTES: Miami G Dwyane Wade missed back-to-back games. On Tuesday
against the Detroit Pistons, the reason given was general
soreness. In Chicago on Thursday, it was illness. "Really
feeling under the weather. It hit him hard this morning," Heat
coach Erik Spoelstra said. ... Spoelstra said he expects F Chris
Andersen to join the team in Minnesota on Friday after missing
the Chicago game due to personal reasons. ... Injured Bulls G
Derrick Rose was declared out for the season after surgery to
repair cartilage damage in his right knee. However, Rose met the
media Thursday for the first time since the surgery and didn't
rule out a return later this season. "If I'm healthy and my
meniscus is fully healed, of course I'll be out there playing,"
he said. ... Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau said of Rose's
potential return: "We can't worry about whether he may come back
or not. Right now, it's been determined that he's out for the
season, so that's the way we're going to approach it. If
something changes later on, then we'll adjust then."
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