Miami Heat outlast the Chicago Bulls; win game - 4 by 101 – 93 in overtime – Part 2
In the second half, both the teams continued from where they left off in the first and the game continued in the same competitive vain. The second half started with LeBron James making a jump shot and Luol Deng coming right back with a dunk. An 8-4 run by the Chicago Bulls did see them take an eight point lead with just under 2 minutes remaining, but the Miami Heat cut it down to 5 by the end. The third quarter finished at 68 – 63.
The fourth quarter started with a 9-1 run for the Heat as they took back the lead from Chicago. In a thrilling final quarter the lead changed hands 6 times and the scores were tied a total of 5 times, as the two teams refused to back down.
However, with the scores tied at 85-85 and a minute left to play, both the teams failed to score again in the face of staunch defences. Derrick Rose missed two jumpers in the final minute, while Dwyane Wade missed one. Miami’s other possession was wasted by LeBron James who turned the ball over with an offensive foul. The teams therefore went into overtime to decide a winner.
Overtime saw Miami close the game out as their stars took over and Chicago’s talisman, Rose, struggled to get anything going. Derrick Rose missed all three of his shots in overtime and even had a turnover as Chicago once again fell apart late in the game. On the other hand, the Heat’s Big Three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh scored all sixteen of Miami’s points to see out the game and take a commanding 3 -1 lead in the series.
Derrick Rose failed to make the big plays in crunch time when the stars of Miami did and that cost the Chicago Bulls. Derrick does carry all the responsibility and the opposite defences complete attention, unlike for Miami’s Big Three who have it spread out between them, but the league MVP would still have expected better from himself,
"All I can do now is put it behind me and go forward," Rose said. "I'm going to learn from it,” before adding with a hint of defiance, "They are beatable,".
Tom Thibodeau praised Miami’s resilience after the game, "Hey, they're a great team," the Bulls coach said. "They compete. They play hard. They play great defense ... and they made plays at the end."
While Miami coach Erik Spoelstra commented on the tough and competitive nature of the series, hinting the by no stretch of the imagination Miami considered the series over.
"Look, this series is an absolute bloodbath," Spoelstra said. "It's about as competitive and physical as it can be."
The game certainly was competitive. The Heat won by a good margin at the end but it had been very even throughout regular time. The stats represented that fact with Chicago edging the battle of the boards with 42-to-41 while Miami shot slightly better at 42.7 percent compared to 40.2 percent from Chicago.
Miami now lead the series 3-1 and have a chance to put the series to bed in game-5 at the United Center.
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