Bulls-Heat Preview

By TIM REYNOLDS
Posted Jan 28 2012 3:45PM

MIAMI (AP) A Sunday matinee matchup, with the top two teams in the Eastern Conference rekindling their playoff rivalry from a season ago.

Derrick Rose says it's just another game.

LeBron James offers a similar sentiment.

Odds are, the past two NBA MVPs aren't being entirely truthful in their analysis.

Rose and the Chicago Bulls visit James and the Miami Heat on Sunday, the first meeting this season between the teams with the East's two best records to date. Chicago won all three regular-season games last season by a combined eight points, before the Heat captured the conference finals in five games and capped that series with a wild comeback on the Bulls' floor.

"The hype is going to be crazy for this game," Rose told reporters in Chicago on Friday night. "Just can't buy into it."

James concurred after the Heat finished practice Saturday in Miami.

"We hope the fans are excited about the game, but as far as the most-hyped game (of the season so far), I don't think so," James said. "We enjoy it. We've got those types of guys who love the big stage, if that's what you want to call it. It's going to be a good game. We're looking forward to the challenge and I know they are as well."

Chicago will leave Miami on Sunday atop the East standings, no matter the outcome, up by either one or three games in the conference race - almost an ancillary point. Instead, Sunday seems almost more about landing the first blow in what could be the start of as many as 11 meetings between the teams this season.

The Heat surely recall losing the three nail-biters against Chicago a year ago, then getting run out of the United Center in Game 1 of the East finals.

The Bulls surely recall that series-opening win was their last against the Heat last season, and how Miami rallied from 12 points down in the last 3 minutes of Game 5 to prevail and earn a spot in the NBA finals.

"It's the team that eliminated us last year," Bulls center Joakim Noah - who famously called Miami "Hollywood as hell" after that playoff series - said Friday night in a video posted to the team's web site. "And everybody will be waiting for that game. It's a game that as soon as that schedule came out, that's definitely the game that you circle, that you come ready for."

Motivation will not be in short supply, on either side.

Healthy bodies, on the Chicago side, may be a bit lacking.

Rose, the reigning MVP, is playing through some nagging issues, including a sore left big toe. Guard Richard Hamilton has always been a strong defender against Miami's Dwyane Wade, but sat out Friday with a bruised right thigh. And forward Luol Deng, who has averaged 18.7 points in his last 10 games against Miami (including playoffs), is saying he does not expect to play for at least another few days because of a torn left wrist ligament.

Plus, it's the start of a nine-game road stretch for Chicago, though this one in Miami is the only one generating any buzz right now.

"Everybody's trying to blow the game up," Rose said. "But we're not worried about that."

The Heat had 15 players available to choose from when setting a lineup Friday, the first time that's happened this season.

Wade returned from a two-week absence because of a sprained right ankle to score 28 points in Miami's 99-89 win over the New York Knicks, adding five steals, four assists and two blocks. James finished with 31 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, already the fourth time this season he's had that stat line or better.

It didn't take long after Friday's game for the Heat to start talking about Chicago.

"Two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference going at it," Wade said. "It's always going to be a great battle when Chicago and the Heat play each other. We've got to get the first one on our home floor."

The teams are different - Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said both are better - than what was on the floor in last season's East finals. Chicago clearly upgraded by adding Hamilton, and Miami's rotation got deeper with the signing of Shane Battier.

The rivalry, however, remains.

"It'll be a little different, but the principles are the same," Wade said. "They live on their defense and obviously this year we've been scoring, but our defense is what wins games and hopefully one day wins championships for us."

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Follow Tim Reynolds on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ByTimReynolds

James, Heat escape with 97-93 win over Bulls

By TIM REYNOLDS
Posted Jan 29 2012 8:19PM

MIAMI (AP) The odds had to overwhelmingly be in Chicago's favor. Down by a point with 22.7 seconds left, with Derrick Rose heading to the line to shoot a pair of free throws.

The reigning NBA MVP. He was a perfect 29 for 29 from the foul line in the fourth quarter this season. As if this moment needed extra significance, it was coming against the Miami Heat, the team that downed Rose and the Bulls in last season's Eastern Conference finals by taking the series' last four games.

Rose missed the first.

Missed the second, too.

And missed a potentially game-tying jumper with 3.7 seconds left to boot, as somehow the Heat held on for a wild 97-93 win on Sunday. LeBron James - the player who Rose supplanted as the league MVP - scored 35 points for Miami, which never trailed yet never could relax until Chris Bosh sealed it by making two free throws with 0.1 seconds left.

"This is so surreal right now knowing that I had a chance to win the game," said Rose, emotional at his locker afterward. "And this time it didn't work out."

Bosh scored 24 points and added 12 rebounds for the Heat (15-5), who got 15 points from Dwyane Wade and pulled within one game of the Bulls (17-5) in the East.

"Like the playoffs in January," Wade said.

Richard Hamilton and Joakim Noah each scored 11 for Chicago, which got 10 apiece from Ronnie Brewer and Carlos Boozer.

"A highly contested basketball game," said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.

Oh, that doesn't even begin to tell the story of this one.

"I let my team down," Rose said.

It had a little of everything. James leaped over - yes, over - Chicago's 5-foot-11 John Lucas for an alley-oop dunk from Wade in the opening minutes, saying afterward he never saw the Bulls' guard in his path. Wade missed nine of his first 10 shots, airballing the last of those. James missed a pair of free throws 5.1 seconds after Rose misfired on his tries in the final moments. There were skirmishes, hard fouls, pushing and screaming and shoving. Even an inadvertent whistle in the final moments that ultimately didn't hurt Miami, although the Heat strongly believed the whistle took away their advantage.

As for that notion that this was "just another game" ... nope. Not even close.

"The way I see it, every time we play the Bulls it's going to be like that," Bosh said. "It's always going to be an atmosphere where nobody wants to lose and that's how the playoffs are."

This wasn't the playoffs.

It only seemed that way.

The Bulls trailed by 12 points midway through the second quarter, though never let Miami pull completely away. Not even in the fourth quarter, when it seemed like Miami was on the cusp: James connected on a long jumper to close the third quarter, then he and Shane Battier set each other up for 3-pointers on the first two possessions of the fourth for an 82-71 lead.

Chicago called time-out, and Rose willed the Bulls back. A floating jumper made it 84-82, and a knifing layup that he made seem simply effortless knotted the game for the fourth and final time with 6:55 left.

The Heat answered with a 10-2 run, before Chicago rallied again, Rose's three-point play with 49.1 seconds left cutting the lead to 94-93.

On the play where he missed the free throws, Rose then lost the ball on a drive, but drew contact from Miami's Udonis Haslem and went to the line. Rose's first hit the front of the rim and bounced away, and his second rimmed out. James grabbed the rebound and was fouled by Noah - only to miss both free throws himself.

"I couldn't believe he missed both," Wade said of Rose. "I couldn't believe LeBron missed both, either. Averaged itself out, I guess."

After James' second miss, Wade said he knocked the ball away and Bosh appeared to emerge with control, but an inadvertent whistle led to a jump ball. James - who talked Bosh out of taking the tap himself - outleaped Taj Gibson, getting the ball to Mario Chalmers, who made one free throw for a two-point lead.

Chicago wound up getting one last chance with 9.9 seconds left, calling time out. Naturally, it went to Rose, who weaved his way into the lane - but came up short. Bosh got the rebound, and Miami began celebrating.

"The ball was on our side this time," said James, who defended Rose in the fourth quarter - and in the postgame, saying last season's MVP deserved credit for the comeback instead of simply having all the blame for misfiring down the stretch.

The Bulls played without forward Luol Deng and guard C.J. Watson, both sidelined with wrist injuries. Watson may be back in Chicago's lineup as early as Monday, and Deng - who has a torn ligament in his left, non-shooting, wrist - is "very close" to a return, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said.

Insistence that this was "just another game" notwithstanding, Miami started quickly. Wade appeared a bit more emotionally charged than usual after joining his teammates in the pregame huddle, and the Heat ran out to a fast early edge.

Maybe it would be more accurate to say they "jumped" out to that lead.

Wade set James up for three dunks in the first 7 minutes, the last of which is probably going to be replayed for quite a while. James appeared to be forgotten as he hovered on the weak side of the floor, so he darted toward the basket. Wade tossed a lob his way - and the two-time MVP went over Lucas for a dunk that put Miami up 16-7.

"I never saw him," James said.

Said Lucas: "When he gets that running jump, what can I do?"

More than two hours later, that play - so wild that the NBA quickly tweeted video of the slam - almost seemed forgotten. The Heat celebrated, and the Bulls lamented.

Just like in last season's East finals.

"Derrick has always been someone who's his biggest critic," Noah said. "He takes losses very hard. He wouldn't be the competitor that he is if he weren't. At the end of the day, we have his back. I'll go to war with him any day. I've never been around a competitor like that in my life."

Notes: James had a large icepack strapped to his right shoulder during a first-half stint of rest. He was grabbing at the shoulder in pain early in the first quarter after a collision, but did not appear to have a serious issue. ... Boozer said he needed more than 20 tickets for the game. He's been spending part of his offseasons in Miami for several years.

Notebook: Heat 97, Bulls 93

By Shandel Richardson, for NBA.com
Posted Sunday January 29, 2012 7:54PM

THE FACTS: The Miami Heat held on to defeat the Chicago Bulls 97-93 Sunday at AmericanAirlines Arena.

LeBron James led all scorers with 35 points while forward Chris Bosh added 24. The Heat led most of the game, but the Bulls were in position to take the lead late in the fourth quarter. Trailing 94-93, guard Derrick Rose missed two free throws with 28 seconds remaining. After James split a pair of free throws, Rose then missed a short jumpshot in the paint that could have tied it.

Guard Mario Chalmers then hit two free throws to seal it for the Heat, who were swept by the Bulls during the regular season last year.

Rose led the Bulls with 34 points. The game was a rematch of last year's Eastern Conference Finals.

QUOTABLE: "It was a highly contested basketball game/ We did a lot of good things throughout the course of the game. You have to give those guys (Bulls) a lot of credit. At the end, they stepped up their defense."
-- Heat coach Erik Spoelstra

THE STAT: The Heat forced Rose to take tough shots in the second half. He finished just 11 of 28 from the field.

TURNING POINT: Shane Battier and James hit back-to-back 3-pointers for the Heat to open an 11-point lead. The Bulls fought back late, but the cushion was enough to hold off the late rally.

QUOTABLE II: "It was definitely tough. ...I've been in those situations before and knocked them down. But to miss both, I let my team down. The only thing I can do is learn from it."
-- Rose on missing free throws in the final seconds.

HOT: James carried the Heat most of the way. He scored a game-high 35 points on 12 of 23 shooting. James also had 11 rebounds and five assists and made his only 3-point attempt of the game.

NOT: Much was about how the Heat would handle Richard Hamilton, the Bulls' top offseason acquisition. Hamilton was a non-factor, shooting 4 of 16 from the field and finishing with 11 points. He also had five turnovers.

GOOD MOVE: After Rose was dominant through three quarter, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra put James on him with six minutes left in the fourth quarter. He held Rose in check for the most part down the stretch.

BAD MOVE: Despite Hamilton struggling, the Bulls designed plays for him when James started defending Rose. The move turned out to hurt the Bulls in the clutch.

NOTABLE: Heat center Eddy Curry played two minutes as he continues to work his way back into playing shape. Heat coach Tom Thibodeau said Luol Deng (wrist) is "very close" to returning. The Bulls also played without guard C.J. Watson (wrist).

UP NEXT: For the Heat, Monday vs. Hornets, Wednesday @ Bucks, Friday @ Philadelphia. For the Bulls, Monday @ Wizards, Wednesday vs. Sixers, Thursday @ Knicks.

• Bulls: --
• Heat: Gladness, Harris

• Bulls: Noah
• Heat: Wade

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 4

• Arena: American Airlines Arena, Miami, FL
• Officials: #36 David Jones, #13 Monty McCutchen, #60 James Williams
• Attendance: 20054
• Duration: 2:41