Chicago Bulls: 3 Takeaways from bounce back win vs Heat
The Chicago Bulls bounced back from a Saturday night loss to the Miami Heat by defeating them on Monday night, 110-102. The Bulls win, combined with a Washington Wizards loss, moved the Bulls back to within one game of the Wizards for the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference.
The rollercoaster of inconsistent play continued in the back-to-back games in Miami. Somehow, the Bulls bounced back in the second game despite the failed comeback on Saturday night.
The first game could have drained the team entering the second game, but instead, Nikola Vucevic stepped up as a leader and helped the team avoid any type of slow start.
Eventually, the rest of the roster stepped up and the Bulls had one of their most promising wins of the season. Unfortunately, we know to not get too excited over any single game from this team.
Still, there are always takeaways to be had and this game is no different.
Chicago Bulls Takeaways: Locking in on Defense Late
On rare occasions this season, the Bulls look like a competent defensive team. The problem is, it is nearly impossible to know when these stretches are going to come. They also don’t tend to last very long and disappear as quickly as they arrived.
One of those stretches of play came against the Heat at the perfect time on Monday. Entering the fourth quarter, the Bulls saw themselves trailing by six points with 12 minutes left to play.
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That is when they woke up and turned up the defensive effort. In the final quarter, Mami shot 7-24 (29.2 percent) from the field. On the other end, the Bulls hit 12-19 shots (63.2 percent) and in the process took full control of the game.
Jimmy Butler shot just 1-6 from the field for the Heat in the fourth and Goran Dragic shot just 1-4.
The defensive effort in the final quarter was the primary reason the Bulls outscored the Heat 34-20 in the final 12 minutes of play. The Bulls have been unable to string enough stretches of play li,e this together alls season but will try to build off their late-game performance when they take on the New York Knicks Wednesday in New York.