At the end of their double extension the day before, the Bulls had a lot to do back-to-back facing the Heatfor the return of Jimmy Butler (24 points, 7 rebounds) in Illinois.
Strangely, the fatigue didn’t have too much of an impact on the performance of DeMar DeRozan (24 points, 10 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals), Zach LaVine (18 points, 7 assists), Coby White (18 points, 6 assists) and others, because Chicago prevailed against Miami (113-99). Not without trembling in the fourth quarter…
A success that took shape in the first half, with a Patrick Beverly (17 points) in X factor mode, to confirm that the players of “Windy City” are indeed part of the pet peeves of the Floridians: three victories in three confrontations!
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
— A dream half for Chicago. In view of all the fatigue accumulated the day before, the Bulls had every interest in quickly folding the case so as not to expose themselves to a physical crack over the course of the game. With this in mind, they signed a first period of fire: 70-45! Collectively unplayable (21 assists in 29 baskets), successful at 3-points (9/17), skillful as possible (62%), inexpensive (2 ball losses), imperial in transition and masters in painting, with a gala DeRozan – LaVine – Beverley triplet, Billy Donovan’s men just gave the Heat a lesson, dominated in all areas of the game.
— Miami dragged too long. Completely extinguished and unrecognizable in the first half, the Heat players finally got to play in the second half. By locking the paint and forcing Chicago to shoot – unsuccessfully – from long range, while increasing the physical intensity to cause loss of ball, Erik Spoelstra’s men woke up thanks to a serious and applied defense. At the same time, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo set the tone on offense to punish the Bulls’ slacks. Returning from -27 to -3, the Floridians were then cooled by DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, Coby White or Nikola Vucevic.
TOPS/FLOPS
✅ Patrick Beverly. You don’t often see him flare up like this, but “Pat Bev” surprisingly made the difference with his scoring in this meeting. Mute in the first and fourth quarters, also with 3 small points in the third, he thus distinguished himself in the second, where he planted… 14 points! And these 14 points were scored consecutively, in just 2 minutes 42! A blow of heat as we like them for the “combo guard” of the Bulls, which increased the gap from +14 to +21 during this period of time.
✅ Coby White. Nice contribution from the bench on the part of the Bulls’ combo guard, invaluable in attack in particular to repel the attacks of the Heat in the second half, in scoring or in the pass, but also involved in defense to hinder the Florida attackers (including Jimmy Butler). Not always on a good night this season, White is therefore finding color in an important clash in the standings, but he will now have to reproduce this type of performance more often, if possible…
✅ Jimmy Butler. Supported by Bam Adebayo (23 points, 7 rebounds), “Jimmy Buckets” found his old audience in Chicago, but the evening was not the most successful of all for him. He will at least have had the merit of being the most prominent in Miami and of being one of the few to hold his rank in this meeting. We will particularly remember his efforts in the second half, to bring the Heat from… -27 to -3 (!), in the company of Adebayo, Max Strus or even Tyler Herro.
⛔ Caleb Martin. If Kevin Love or Gabe Vincent were not at the party either in the five, difficult to do worse than the passage of the twin Martin off the bench: 4 points (with 4 rebounds and 3 assists) in 30 minutes, 1 /5 to shoot (including 0/2 to 3-pointers) and an awful -26 to “plus/minus”. A line of stats that demonstrates both the winger’s lack of productivity, but also his negative contribution to this game.
⛔ Alex Caruso. Only 10 short minutes of play for the Bulls’ combo guard. The time to distinguish himself on both sides of the floor, with his characteristic energy, but also the time to injure his foot, without coming back into play afterwards. The only downside of the evening in the Chicago camp.
THE FOLLOWING
Chicago (33-37) : trip to Philadelphia, on the night of Monday to Tuesday (00:00).
Miami (38-34) : “back-to-back” in Detroit, on the night of Sunday to Monday (00:00).
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