Miami Heat surge down the stretch to beat the Chicago Bulls, 85-75 – Part 2
After a fiercely contested first half, Miami Heat started to pull away from the Chicago Bulls in the second. The opening few minutes were close and the Bulls managed to contain the Heat within one point, 56-57. However, with 4:43
to go till the fourth, Udonis Haslem slammed the rim to initiate a ten point unanswered spurt within a span of 71 seconds , stretching Miami’s lead to a game high eleven points. Derrick Rose then scored six of the Bulls’ last nine points, closing the gap to
6 at the end of the third period.
The final quarter was an extremely low scoring affair as the teams hustled and harried each other in the hopes of getting an advantage. Two of the best defences in the league went head to head as the quarter produced just 24 points
in total. It seemed to work for the Bulls as they drew level with a Taj Gibson dunk at 73 – 73, with 7:16 left in the game.
However it went downhill from there for the Chicago Bulls as LeBron James took the game into his own hands. He started off with a huge 3-pointer that took the wind out of the sell-out United Center crowd. LeBron proceeded to score
nine of Miami’s last twelve points in a 12 – 2 run as Chicago simply fell apart at the death. They made only 1 of 11 shots attempted. Dwyane Wade got the other three points for Miami, and the game ended with a 10 point win for the Heat at 85 – 75.
James said after the game that he knew before hand what was needed and he just went out and did his job, "I put it all on the line tonight and did whatever it took for our team to win,"
Of the gruelling fourth quarter that saw a 14 – 10 score line, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra admitted it wasn’t pretty, but that people should get used to it because both teams will be grinding it out throughout the series,
"That fourth quarter is going to epitomize this entire series," Spoelstra said. "It's an absolute street fight for both teams."
After losing out on in the battle of the boards in game-1 by a 45 – 33 margin, the Heat came back strongly to edge the Bulls, 45-41 in this game. Chicago were hapless with their shooting, going 34.1 percent from the field and just
15 percent from beyond the arc. In comparison the Heat were 47.1 percent and 23.1 percent from the field and 3-point range respectively, despite taking a lesser number of shots.
The loss means the Miami Heat now have the advantage in the Eastern Conference Finals series and will now play two games at home court, where they will be looking to take a decisive 3-1 lead.
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