NBA: Heat complete sweep of Bulls to stay in first in the East
Jimmy Butler #22 of the Miami Heat shoots in the first half against the Chicago Bulls at United Center on April 02, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. Quinn Harris/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by Quinn Harris / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
Jimmy Butler scored 22 points, and Kyle Lowry added 19 points and a game-high 10 assists as the Miami Heat defeated the host Chicago Bulls 127-109 on Saturday night.
Zach LaVine led the Bulls (45-33) with a game-high 33 points on 11-for-21 shooting, including 5-for-12 on 3-pointers. The Bulls, who had their two-game win streak broken, also got 26 points from DeMar DeRozan, who had 50 in his previous contest.
Article continues after this advertisementMiami (50-28), which leads the Eastern Conference and swept all four games from Chicago this season, also got 19 points off the bench from Tyler Herro. Butler had a well-rounded game with seven rebounds and six assists as the Heat improved to 23-15 on the road.
Heat center Bam Adebayo had 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting, and he added seven rebounds and three assists.
Jimmy put together a classic all-around performance tonight, leading the team in scoring with 22 points 🔥 pic.twitter.com/F2f6DSVEY9
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) April 3, 2022
Chicago’s excellent home record fell to 27-11.
The Heat shot the ball well all night, hitting on 53.7 percent from the floor, including 17-for-34 on 3-pointers.
Chicago shot 43.0 percent from the floor, including 9-for-34 on 3-pointers (26.5 percent).
Miami got off to a 27-25 start by shooting a superb 80 percent.
They cooled off slightly but still led 31-30 at the end of the first quarter, shooting 63.6 percent as compared to 42.9 percent for Chicago. The Bulls stayed in the game due to their zero turnovers and 11 points from LaVine.
The Heat extended their halftime lead to 66-57. For the first half, Miami shot 57.5 percent from the floor, including 6-for-12 on 3-pointers, and 14-of-15 on free throws (93.3 percent). Chicago shot 42.9 percent, although the Bulls had a first-half-high 18 points from LaVine.
Miami stretched its advantage to 98-79 by the end of the third quarter. The Heat’s shooting through three quarters remained hot — 58.1 percent from the floor and 12-for-22 on 3-pointers (54.5).
In the fourth quarter, Chicago went on a 7-0 run, cutting its deficit to 111-97. But a Herro 3-pointer ended Chicago’s momentum, and Miami cruised from there.
