Bulls, Heat grab commanding playoff leads

INDIANAPOLIS—Chicago and Miami both took strangleholds on their NBA Eastern Conference playoff series Thursday, with the Bulls edging Indiana and the Heat rallying for a victory over Philadelphia.

Chicago beat the Indiana Pacers 88-84 to seize a 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven first-round series, while the star-studded Heat beat the 76ers 100-94 in Philadelphia to also move within one victory of a sweep.

The Heat, led by their star trio of Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh, rallied from an early 10-point deficit to win.

Wade had 32 points and 10 rebounds, James added 24 points and 15 rebounds and Bosh scored 19 points for the Heat, who will try to close out the series on Sunday in Philadelphia.

Wade was 12 for 12 from the free throw line to help claim the victory over a Sixers team determined to avoid the sweep.

“We’re a desperate team right now,” James said. “We want to continue to play that way. D-Wade had an unbelievable game … and we’re ready to close it out.”

There was a scary moment for the Heat in the fourth, when James hit the floor hard, sitting for a moment and wincing when his teammates helped him up.

No team has ever come back from a 0-3 deficit to win an NBA playoff series, but Bulls coach Tom Thibodeaux said it was important his players didn’t get ahead of themselves going into Saturday’s game four in Indiana.

“If we start thinking about all the other things, we’re going to lose sight of what we need to do, which is prepare for the next game and be ready for that,” Thibodeaux said. “We don’t want to change or approach at all.”

Once again, Derrick Rose made the difference for the Bulls, despite the Pacers’ best attempts to smother him.

Rose’s 23 points included a basket with 17 seconds remaining that gave the Bulls an 86-84 lead.

The basket sparked chants of “MVP” — a nod to Rose’s status as a contender for the league’s Most Valuable Player award from the thousands of Chicago fans who made the road trip to Indiana.

That was Rose’s only basket from the floor in the second half. He made just four of 18 shots overall as Indiana’s Paul George and Dahntay Jones kept him at bay with physical defense.

Rose, who averaged 37.5 points for the first two games of the series in Chicago, was able to make up the difference at the foul line, making 13 of 15 free throws.

“The whole time, I was just thinking I’ll go to the hole,” he said of his game plan. “It was tough the whole night the way they were playing, but at that time, I saw space and went for it.”

His teammates are used to seeing him dominate.

“We have had a lot of close games all year,” Bulls guard Kyle Korver said. “He always wants the ball at the end, and usually, he comes through.”

Luol Deng had 21 points and Kyle Korver added 12 for the Bulls.

The Pacers’ Danny Granger had a chance to win it at the end, but was off with a three-point attempt in the waning seconds.

Granger led the Pacers with 21 points.

Chicago’s Ronnie Brewer rebounded Granger’s miss. He was fouled and made two free throws to seal it.

After surrendering double-digit leads in each of the first two games, the Pacers were up by five in the fourth period on Thursday but couldn’t finish it off.

Indiana led 68-65 after a layup by Jones with 10 minutes to play. Jones drained a jump shot over Korver to stretch the lead to 70-65.

Rose knotted the score with two free throws, then made two more to make it 72-70. A three-pointer by Korver stretched the Bulls’ lead to 75-70 with seven minutes remaining.

The Pacers closed to 75-74 before Korver drained another three-pointer, and Granger knotted it at 84-84 with less than two minutes remaining before Indiana finally succumbed.

The Pacers will try to avoid the sweep when they host the Bulls in game four on Saturday.