Caruso injured in Bulls win over Heat |
MIAMI - You have a night, You have a night, Everyone has a night. That was the theme of the night for the Chicago Bulls (10-16) as they traveled to American Airlines Arena to square off with the Miami Heat (14-11). For the better part of the past five seasons, the Heat have had the Bulls number and, for the most part, have made things look easy in the process.
You started to see things shift last season, and the momentum the Bulls gained from those wins against the Heat has carried over into this season. Backed by a quartet of 20-point performances, including one coming off the bench, the Bulls had plenty of fun in the sun as they took care of the Heat 124-116 in the first of two meetings in three days in South Beach. For the most part, the first quarter has been an issue for the Bulls, and although they have gotten better as of late, they still have the worst first-quarter totals this season. That wasn't the case on Thursday as the Bulls put together one of their best, if not their best, first quarter showing of the season to open up a double-digit lead 36-22. The only negative from that was another Alex Caruso injury, as the guard reaggravated his ankle injury and was removed from the game after five minutes of action. Anytime Caruso is out for an extended period, it makes life much harder on the court, and the Heat made sure to capitalize on that during the second quarter as they pulled within four points at the break. Credit the Bulls for staying the course and doing what they needed to do to pick up a win as they took the Heat's best shots throughout the second half only to punch back as they held on for another win and have improved to 6-2 without Zach Lavine. It's starting to become a broken record at this point, but you could make the case that Coby White has been the team MVP this season and has now taken over the role as the top scorer for the Bulls. White has been stepping up his game all season, but in the past eight games, he has turned into one of the more lethal shooters in the league. With four more triples, White has now had 13 consecutive games with at least three made triples, extending his team record while finishing with a game-high 26 points. White also added 11 assists and finally started to show the distributor ability they hoped he had in him. With White dishing out assists left and right, you had to think the Bulls were getting plenty of production up and down their lineup, and that was the case with Nikola Vucevic and DeMar DeRozan putting together great games. Vucevic added a double-double himself with 24 points and 12 boards, while DeRozan made it three starters with at least 20 points, finishing with 23 points. Their production alone made up for Patrick Williams having only nine points and Caruso's six as the Bulls bench saved the day in this one. The key to the entire game was Ayo Dosunmu not only stepping in for Caruso but also doing so by playing his best game of the season. In 35 minutes, Dosunmu was near perfect, going 10-12 from the field to finish with a season-high 24 points. That gave the Bulls four players with 20 or more points as the Bulls' bench finished with 36 points in the win. Andre Drummond picked up seven points, and Torrey Craig added five. When you look at the Heat roster, it is incredible how good this team consistently is. Credit that to Erik Spoelstra and the system he has built, as this team continues to be one of the more consistent teams in the Eastern Conference despite a lack of Superstar caliber players. Jimmy Butler may be considered a borderline Superstar player, and with 20 points, you knew it was going to be an uphill battle. Even without the same talent level as some of these other teams, the Heat have done a great job building an extremely deep roster capable of playing multiple roles. You see that with guys like Tyler Herro (injured) and Duncan Robinson, but with Robinson only picking up 11 points, the rest of the Heat offense would have to come elsewhere. A large chunk of that offense came from Jamie Jaquez Jr, as his 22 points off the bench led the Heat and just shows you how deep this Heat roster is. You also had Kevin Love drop 16 additional points off of the bench as those two alone outscored the entire Bulls bench and helped keep things close throughout. Even with Herro out of action and Robinson having a down night, the Heat continued to get production from several players as Caleb Martin picked up the slack with 17 points, as did Kyle Lowry and his 17. All of these guys were crucial for the Heat to keep things close, but with Herro out and Bam Adebayo also out of action, more would be needed as the Bulls have guaranteed themselves, at worst, a season split with Miami.
