By Eric Koreen, Darnell Mayberry and Lauren Merola
The Miami Heat pummeled the Chicago Bulls, 112-91, in their Play-In tournament finale to eliminate Chicago from postseason contention and secure a matchup against the top-seeded Boston Celtics in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
The Heat entered the fourth quarter with a 22-point lead and never relinquished it thanks in part to coach Erik Spoelstra’s defensive scheme and Tyler Herro’s explosive play.
Herro paced the Heat with 24 points, adding 10 rebounds and nine assists. Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 21 points and Kevin Love had 16.
The Heat held a commanding 17-point lead at the end of the first quarter before claiming their biggest first-half lead, 42-22, on a Duncan Robinson 3 with roughly eight minutes to go in the half. Chicago then stopped the bleeding, going on a nine-point run to come within 11. Trades of buckets made it a 10-point game entering the third frame.
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The second half looked as though it’d continue as a game of mini runs, but the Bulls never made a threatening enough push. A Herro behind-the-back assist to Caleb Martin for a 21-foot sunken basket gave Miami a 13-point pad with roughly four minutes left in the third quarter and sent the crowd into uproar.
Shortly after, the Bulls went on a 12-point run.
TYLER BEHIND THE BACK PASS TO A CALEB 3 👀 pic.twitter.com/ppM6eOrbUI
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) April 20, 2024
DeMar DeRozan led the Bulls scoring with 22 points and Nikola Vucevic added 16 points and 13 rebounds.
Jimmy Butler was notably absent for the Heat after he sprained his MCL in his right knee during Wednesday’s 105-104 road loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. He is expected to miss multiple weeks, league sources said.
On the opening day of the Play-In tournament Wednesday, the ninth-seeded Bulls beat the 10th-seeded Atlanta Hawks 131-116 to advance to the final Play-In game. The eighth-seeded Heat lost to the seventh-seeded Philadelphia 76ers, who secured the spot to face the second-seeded New York Knicks in the first round.
The Heat’s first-round series against the Celtics begins Sunday.
Miami’s defensive gameplan
Without Butler and Terry Rozier (neck injury), Miami’s most obvious problem coming into the game seemed to be their offense. Instead of worrying about that, Spoelstra drew up a wonderful defensive plan that helped the offense along. Instead of putting him on a big man, Spoelstra put star center Bam Adebayo on DeRozan, taking the Bulls out of their preferred attack. Through solid rebounding and some self-inflicted Chicago errors, Miami was able to get all the offense they needed in transition or through mismatches. Herro provided offensive explosiveness when necessary, but Spoelstra made it so the Bulls couldn’t get out of their own way. — Eric Koreen, NBA staff writer
How tough are the Celtics to beat?
It is one thing to beat the Bulls, a 39-win team in the regular season, in one game at home. It would be quite another to topple the Celtics in a seven-game series without Butler. Miami has knocked Boston out in two of the past four playoffs and gone seven games with the Celtics in another recent series in 2022, but that was with Butler playing a starring role.
The Celtics won 64 games this year, nine more than any other team, and 18 more than the Heat. They had the second-ranked defense in the regular season, which will test Miami’s half-court weakness. This feels very much like a traditional 1-8 series heading into Sunday’s Game 1. — Koreen
What happened to the Bulls?
In a win-to-get-in game, the Bulls’ offense betrayed them.
Chicago narrowly avoided its worst shooting performance of the season, connecting on just 38 percent from the field. The Bulls’ regular-season low for field-goal percentage was 37.4 percent. Chicago also shot 13 of 43 from 3-point range (30.2 percent). The Bulls also tied their regular-season low for points in a game at 91.
The Bulls’ bench couldn’t provide any relief despite the Heat playing without injured star forward Jimmy Butler and point guard Rozier. Miami’s reserves outscored Chicago’s 42-24, and the margin was only that close thanks to garbage time.
Two nights after posting 42 points against the Hawks, Bulls guard Coby White was the face of the team’s offensive struggles Friday. He scored just 13 points on 5-of-16 shooting. His backcourt mate, Ayo Dosunmu, added only 10 points on 3-of-15 shooting. White and Dosunmu combined to shoot 4 of 19 from 3-point range.
“I thought we had good looks and didn’t shoot the ball well,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. — Darnell Mayberry, Bulls beat writer
Where Chicago goes from here
The Bulls banked on continuity for a second straight season despite loud calls for changes when it had become clear their plan wasn’t working. The front office refused, only to see its season end in the same place it did a year ago.
Now, the Bulls seemingly will be forced to make changes this summer.
DeRozan, who led the league in minutes at 34 years old, will be an unrestricted free agent. He has said he would like to re-sign. Fourth-year forward Patrick Williams is set to become a restricted free agent. Guards Zach LaVine and Lonzo Ball, meanwhile, are recovering from long-term injuries.
The Bulls own their first-round draft pick this year, but the draft is short on star power capable of stepping in as a franchise changer. Chicago also doesn’t project to have cap space to maneuver beyond re-signing their own players.
If the Bulls are going to make changes this summer, look for them to get creative on the trade market. — Mayberry
Required reading
(Photo: Rich Storry / Getty Images)
