The Miami Heat will take on the Chicago Bulls in Game 3 of their seven game Easter Conference semifinal matchup tonight at 7:00 p.m. at the United Center in Chicago. The game can be live streamed for free by clicking this link. Bulls fans who need to listen to the action can do so at ESPN 1000, while Heat fans may tune in to 560 WQAM.
The Heat avenged their Game 1 loss in the Eastern Conference semifinals in grand fashion Wednesday night, trashing the Bulls 115-78 in Game 2. Now that they've assumed dominance once again, they face another challenge-battling the Bulls at the United Center.
Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade is a Chicago native, and had this to say about playing the Bulls in their building, "We know that they call it the 'Madhouse on Madison' for a reason. The fans are very loud. At the end of the day, once that settles down, it's the game of basketball and you have to execute your game plan. It's going to be the little things that wins games for your team."
Wednesday night's beatdown was more than just on the court; there was a ton of extracurricular activity after the whistles that resulted in nine technical fouls being issued by the referees, six of which went against the out-of-sorts Bulls.
Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau will not be expecting a repeat of his team's Game 2 mental breakdown. "We got to do better. We got to do a much better job of that," Thibodeau said. "Can't get sidetracked. We know how it will be called. We're not going to get calls. We just got to be tough, mentally, physically, emotionally. We got to be a lot stronger."
While much has been made of Chicago's litany of injuries to Derrick Rose, Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich, Wade has quietly battled a bone bruise in his knee since the final month of the regular season. This postseason Wade is averaging just 14 points per game; his career postseason scoring average is 24.7. While he hasn't missed time in this series, it is clear the Heat guard isn't 100 percent, something to bear in mind as the series wears on.
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.