Bulls: Heat Sweep Away More Hopes of Instant Turnaround
Miami dominates Bulls for a fourth time, push them further down Eastern Conference standings
Saturday night saw a cut-off to what looked to be a string of solid play emerging from the Chicago Bulls, resulting in a 127-109 loss to the Miami Heat at the United Center.
Chicago’s well-publicized losing record against the top teams in the East dropped to an eye-opening 1-12 with this loss. With their win, the Heat completed a four-game season sweep of the Bulls, matching something the Philadelphia 76ers have already accomplished. Tuesday, the Milwaukee Bucks have a chance to do the same..
Against Miami, the Bulls lost their connectivity on defense early on, both in rotations as well as in the pick and roll, which resulted in Chicago taking the ball out from under the net time after time. The Bulls passivity would snowball into them running into the buzzsaw of a Miami half-court defense that is ranked No. 4 in the NBA.
This played right into the Heat's hands as they garnered pace and frequently kept the Bulls out of transition.
Chicago shot 43 percent from the field and an ineffective 26.5% from deep. Even more, they were 1-of-6 from the corners.
It's safe to say at this point that the Heat are a team that the Bulls simply don't match up well with in its current rendition.
An 11-point first quarter for Zach LaVine (3-of-6 from deep) was quickly squandered as the Heat's defense settled in for the second and third quarters, holding the Bulls to 27 and 22 points respectively in each frame. Meanwhile, Miami posted 35 and 32 in those quarters, creating the difference that the Bulls couldn’t surmount.
Tough loss after the momentum the Bulls up in the prior two games. A minor plus is that they can’t dwell on it as they'll need to quickly regroup with a big week lying ahead.
Nightly Notable: Patrick Williams is seemingly hitting his stride as we inch closer to the playoffs. The impact wasn't the same as against the Clippers, due to it being a collectively a rough night for the Bulls, but Williams is building up consistency in shot profile and in the form of good on-court habits.
Williams is attacking closeouts well as scrambling defenders attempt to close his air space, shooting the three when it's opportune rather than as his end-all-be-all, rotating well defensively both in help and rim protection and rebounding well.
Final stats for P-Will included 12 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal in what was pretty much the only sustained bright spot of last night's game.
Up Next: A bout with the defending champion Bucks looms on Tuesday. This is one the Bulls need to aid their efforts in staving off a spot in the play-in tournament as they presently reside in the Eastern Conference’s sixth place, a half game behind Toronto and only two games ahead of seventh place Cleveland.
Of Note:
Remaining games for the Bulls include the Bucks, Celtics, Hornets and the season-ender at Minnesota.
Meanwhile, the Cavs have the 76ers at home, road trips to the Magic and Nets and the Bucks left.
Finally, the Raptors host the Heat, Hawks, 76ers and Rockets before closing at the Knicks.
These are the box scores to watch the rest of the way as the landscape of the middle of the East standings begin taking its final form.
Follow WARR Media (We Are Regal Radio
)
on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram