Underachieving Heat see season on the line vs. rising Bulls
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[April 14, 2023]
One season ago, the Miami Heat posted the top record in the
Eastern Conference and advanced to the conference finals before
succumbing to the Boston Celtics.
More success was expected this season, but the Heat have been
underachievers. And worse, Miami will miss the NBA playoffs if it
should lose to the visiting Chicago Bulls on Friday in the play-in
round.
Chicago advanced by recording a 109-105 comeback victory over the
host Toronto Raptors on Wednesday. The Bulls should be confident in
the winner-take-all scenario as they are 3-0 against the Heat this
season, including two wins in Miami.
The Heat are in this position after losing 116-105 to the visiting
Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday, the first day of the play-in festivities.
The Hawks advanced to the playoffs.
"We've had a lot of ups and downs this season. Nothing about this
season has been easy," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We're going
to do this the hard way."
Spoelstra said he won't trot out the same starting lineup against
Chicago that he did against Atlanta.
"This is going to have a different feel than Atlanta, for sure,"
Spoelstra said. "I wouldn't even just say the starters, but who we
bring in off the bench might be a little bit different than what we
used against Atlanta."
Miami trailed by as many as 24 points in the second quarter and was
physically dominated on the boards as Atlanta had a 63-39 rebounding
advantage and a 26-6 edge in second-chance points. Star Jimmy Butler
scored 21 points but had a shaky 6-of-19 effort from the field.
Butler vows the result will be different on Friday.
"We have to stay confident," Butler said. "We have to know we are
capable of winning -- if we start out the right way and if we
rebound, obviously. I don't know, shots don't go in, we foul --
that's never the recipe for success with us. So come Friday, we've
got to play, like, legit the exact opposite that we played
(Wednesday night)."
The Bulls overcame a 19-point third-quarter deficit to beat the
Raptors and stay alive.
Zach LaVine poured in 30 of his 39 points in the second half and
DeMar DeRozan added 23 for Chicago.
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"There's not too many people in this league that
have the talent that Zach has," DeRozan said of his star teammate.
"It feels good just to see him get appreciated from the moment that
I got here. I wanted everything to come his way in a positive nature
because I know how hard he works, how much he cares about the game
and he's a hell of a person."
When reminded of Chicago's regular-season success against the Heat,
LaVine said it is a non-factor.
"They're going to make adjustments. We are, too," LaVine said. "It's
going to be whoever wants it more. I think it comes down to that."
The Bulls have been playing their best basketball of the season in
recent weeks after a shaky campaign in which they were last above
.500 at 5-4 on Nov. 2.
But Chicago won 11 of its final 17 regular-season games and
continued its rise with the rally against Toronto.
"I think that's why our team is set up for success, we got two
killers in Zach and DeMar," guard Alex Caruso said. "That's all we
got to do is play our roles and then we know we got two killers that
down the stretch of the game can go get a bucket on just about
anybody in the league."
While Butler was struggling, Miami got surprise help from Kyle
Lowry, who poured in 33 points against the Hawks for his highest
scoring output in two seasons with the Heat.
Lowry was 11-of-16 shooting -- he made six 3-pointers -- but
experienced left knee soreness after his strong effort. He is listed
as questionable against the Bulls but doesn't figure to miss the
game with the season on the line.
Miami guard Gabe Vincent (hip) also is questionable. He scored six
points in 24-plus minutes against Atlanta.
The winner of this contest meets the top-seed Milwaukee Bucks in the
first round of the playoffs.
--Field Level Media
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