NBA Basketball
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| 5:00 PM PT6:00 PM MT7:00 PM CT8:00 PM ET1:00 GMT9:00 6:00 PM MST8:00 PM EST5:00 UAE (+1)02:0020:00 ET7:00 PM CTNaN:� , November 20, 2023 United Center, Chicago, Illinois Attendance: 19,258 |
Can Bulls make it two straight vs. Heat?
Miami Heat at Chicago Bulls
- Including the game on Saturday, the Bulls have won four straight games against the Heat since last October. This is Chicago's longest winning streak against Miami since a four-game run between April 2006 and January 2007 and its longest active winning streak against any single team.
- Miami's 102-97 loss to Chicago on Saturday ended a seven-game winning streak. It was the Heat's longest single-season winning streak since winning seven in a row between December 2017 and January 2018.
- Bam Adebayo has scored at least 20 points in each of his last seven games, the longest such run of his career. Since Adebayo joined the Heat in 2017-18, the only Miami player with more consecutive 20-point games is Jimmy Butler (nine games twice, eight games once).
- The Bulls have the lowest turnover rate this season in the NBA with an average of 12.2 per game. The last time Chicago led the league with the lowest turnover average was in 1992-93 (13.0), en route to its third consecutive NBA title.
- Alex Caruso is shooting 61.5 percent from the field so far this season (40-for-65) after having a career average of 42.9 percent prior. He is shooting 65.9 percent this month from the floor, the highest field-goal percentage in a single month in his career.
- Zach LaVine leads the league with 498 minutes played this season. The last Bulls player to lead the league in minutes in a season was Michael Jordan, who did so in three seasons: 1986-87, 1987-88 and 1988-89.
A fourth-quarter rally helped the Chicago Bulls stop the Miami Heat's seven-game winning streak on Saturday.
Now the Bulls hope the momentum can steer them toward earning consecutive victories for the first time this season.
Host Chicago will aim for that milestone Monday when Miami visits for the second time in three nights.
The Heat raced to a 22-1 first-quarter lead Saturday but couldn't hang on as the Bulls won 102-97. Miami led until the final minute of the game.
"The feeling we have now, you've got to want it even more, and it's going to be tough Monday night playing against the same team again," Chicago's DeMar DeRozan said. "We understood how we put ourselves in the hole and not to do that again and feed off a game like today."
DeRozan led the Bulls with 23 points. Every Chicago starter finished in double figures as the Bulls halted a three-game skid. Nikola Vucevic (15 points), Coby White (14), Zach LaVine (13) and Alex Caruso (11) were the other top scorers.
Twice last week, frenzied finishes nearly allowed the Bulls to score comeback victories against the visiting Orlando Magic. Dull starts ultimately were their undoing, though. The Bulls scored 33 first-half points in both Orlando games and were down 50-40 at the break on Saturday after missing their first 10 attempts from the floor.
Chicago coach Billy Donovan expressed optimism in the uplifting nature of team huddles -- a more constructive alternative than finger-pointing.
Still, Donovan said: "It's great to talk, but we have to go out and do it. I'm glad we were able to overcome it, but it's certainly a hard way to live doing that."
Miami, which won every game during its streak by single digits, led by 10 with 8:04 left but was unable to stave off Chicago.
It wasn't an optimal way to kick off a five-game road trip, the Heat's previous successes notwithstanding.
"I felt like we got in a daze, a fog, and we lost the game," said Bam Adebayo, who had 24 points and 10 rebounds to notch his seventh double-double this season.
Jimmy Butler paced Miami with 25 points, while Duncan Robinson chipped in 17 and seven assists while shooting 4-for-5 from long range.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said the Bulls "outplayed us down the stretch."
"When you get up double digits, we had a few of those opportunities in the second half to extend the lead," he added.
Said Butler: "We let it get easy for them. We let one get away."
After Monday, the Bulls and Heat will close the season series with games Dec. 14 and 16 in Miami.
Chicago has won the past four meetings between the teams, who have split the past 10 games overall.
Vucevic, whose eight rebounds were one shy of Andre Drummond for the team high, has posted double-doubles in four of the past five games against the Heat.
Butler has finished as Miami's leading scorer in three straight games and four of seven.
--Field Level Media
Updated November 19, 2023
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