It’s the same old story for the Miami Heat: play one of the NBA’s best teams tough until the end, fall behind at the exact wrong moment, and fail to make the game-winning play at the buzzer. And for the Chicago Bulls and Derrick Rose, that script playing out this afternoon gave them an 87-86 victory in Miami and a season sweep of the South Beach power.
Bulls Vs. Heat Final Score: Miami Fails In The Clutch, Loses To Derrick Rose-Led Chicago 87-86
After three Luol Deng free throws gave the Bulls a one-point lead late, the Heat had the ball and a chance to win the game. But a LeBron James isolation against Joakim Noah turned into a tough left-handed drive thanks to excellent defense by Noah, and Dwyane Wade’s shot off the rebound clanged off the front iron. As such, the Heat are right back where they’ve always been: in possession of a fantastic core of three stars, and yet amidst swirling uncertainty as to whether those stars can be good enough to win titles.
Rose, on the other hand, has the Bulls looking like a team that could contend for NBA championships for years to come. And his spectacular performance this season — he had 27 points today, 17 in the second half — has made him maybe the league’s foremost MVP candidate.
With the win, Chicago earned a 3-0 season sweep of the Heat, and moved one game ahead of Miami for second place in the Eastern Conference. If the Heat are going to blaze a trail to an NBA title this season, it increasingly appears that they will have to do it without home-court advantage against the Bulls and Celtics, two teams that have dominated Miami all year.
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