The Chicago Bulls snapped the Miami Heat's 27-game winning streak in late March, and did so with obvious glee. Miami's streak was the second-longest in NBA history, trailing only the 33-game winning streak by the 1971-1972 Los Angeles Lakers. The Bulls fouled Miami's players hard all night long and frustrated LeBron James.
On Sunday afternoon in Miami, the Heat got some measure of payback in a 105-93 victory over the Bulls. LeBron James, who complained in the last meeting about hard fouls that were not "basketball plays" was unbothered by Chicago's physicality this time around, scoring a game-high 24 points in 35 minutes. He did so efficiently, hitting 7-of-12 shots from the field, making his lone 3-point attempt, and hitting 9-of-12 from the free throw line.
Dwyane Wade matched LeBron shot for shot from the field, also nailing 7-of-12, but shooting a worse percentage from the foul line (8-of-14, 57 percent). The third star of Miami's championship trio, Chris Bosh, netted 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the win.
Chicago was led by Carlos Boozer, who scored 16 points and absolutely destroyed Miami's frontcourt on the glass, pulling down 20 rebounds by himself, including six of the offensive variety. Luol Deng led the Bulls in the scoring column, putting up 19 points on 8-of-18 shooting.
Nate Robinson, the Bulls sparkplug off the bench who dropped 35 on the New York Knicks recently and helped end their 13-game winning streak, struggled to find a rhythm against Miami's stout defense. Robinson finished the game with 14 points in 33 minutes, and shot an inefficient 5-of-16 from the floor.
While the Heat are merely playing out the regular season string and trying to stay sharp for the postseason, the Bulls are battling the Atlanta Hawks for the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. They are currently one game back of the Hawks, and both teams have two games left on their schedule.
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