Bulls strip Heat's crown, win first series since Jordan
era
Chicago became the 80th consecutive NBA team to advance after
taking a 3-0 lead in a series. Only three teams in major pro sports
have overcome such a deficit, and the Heat won't be joining the
1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, 1975 New York Islanders and 2004 Boston
Red Sox in that exclusive club.
"We ran into more than a formidable opponent," Heat coach Pat Riley
said. "They are a great team. ... They deserved to win. There's no
doubt in my mind. They can go a long way."
Dwyane Wade scored 24 points for Miami on 8-for-22 shooting, and
added 10 assists. Shaquille O'Neal had 16 points, Alonzo Mourning
scored 14 and James Posey had 18 rebounds -- a club-playoff-record
17 on the defensive end -- for the Heat.
"They were the better team," Wade said. "They won. We're not into
what they were doing last year, saying they should have won. ...
They beat us fair and square. There are no ifs, ands or buts about
it."
Miami, which didn't trail until late in the third quarter, got
within one point twice in the fourth, first on a jumper by Wade
with 11:15 left, then when Posey -- a free-agent-to-be who said
after the game he wants to return to Miami -- made a pair of free
throws with 5:27 remaining.
It was all Chicago from there.
"They had our number, first game of the season," O'Neal said. "And
they had our number the rest of the season. They just had our
number."
Wade scored with 2:32 left to get Miami within 84-79, and the Heat
then turned to the Hack-a-Ben strategy -- intentionally fouling the
Bulls' Ben Wallace, a notoriously terrible foul shooter -- with
hopes of getting the ball back. But Wallace made all four of his
tries within a 21-second span to push the lead to nine, and the
white-clad Heat crowd began shuffling into the offseason.
Wallace finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds and Andres Nocioni
had 11 points for Chicago, which committed only five turnovers
while forcing 17.
"This is a great feeling. We're someplace we've never been before,"
Deng said. "The guys made it a goal at the beginning of the season
to get back to this spot, and it worked out that we played them in
the first round."
Miami scored the game's first eight points, the first six of those
coming from O'Neal -- who was 6-for-7 in the opening half. But the
Bulls coolly withstood the opening burst and knotted the game at 14
when Gordon hit his second 3-pointer of the quarter with 5:30 left,
the first of four ties in the half.
Chicago never led in the first half and trailed 48-44 at
intermission, but probably felt quite good about the second
quarter. The Bulls made only 33 percent of their shots in that
period, compared to 64 percent shooting by the Heat. And in the
third, Chicago finally broke through.
The Bulls got their first lead when Deng hit a jumper with 2:45
left. It was Deng's third basket in an 11-2 Chicago run to end the
third quarter, and when Chris Duhon hit a 3-pointer with 2.6
seconds left, the Bulls had a 68-64 lead entering the fourth.
They didn't trail again. And the so-called Baby Bulls -- a young
team that had endured two straight first-round ousters, including
last year against Miami in six games -- officially grew up.
"They showed signs of maturity," said Wallace, who now gets to face
his old team, the Pistons, with a trip to the Eastern Conference
finals at stake. "I like to see that."