Bullies of the Beach: Bulls season ends with decisive loss to Miami
After rolling over some tanking teams late in the season, it was probably helpful for the Bulls to get a harsh dose of reality.
It came with a few bucketfuls of South Beach sand being kicked in their face as the Miami Heat sent a reminder that this Bulls team has a long way to go.
The Heat led from start to finish, usually by double digits, and ended the Bulls season with a 109-90 play-in victory at the United Center. This was the third year in a row Miami eliminated the Bulls from the play-in tournament.
The Bulls hadn't scored fewer than 100 points since Feb. 11 when they got waxed by Detroit, a string of 28 straight games.
Wisconsin native Tyler Herro was unstoppable, pouring in 38 points while hitting 13 of 19 shots. Josh Giddey led the Bulls with 25, and Coby White added 17 but knocked down just 3 of 12 shots from 3-point range.
“I think they just came out the more physical team, more disciplined team,” White said. “They played more to their identity than we did.”
Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra spent years as the team's advance scout, traveling to arenas, sitting at the same table with reporters. He and his staff clearly know how to put together a winning game plan, because Miami carved up the Bulls defense like the relatives were over for holiday dinner.
The Heat started by attacking the basket and getting easy lay-ins, then after hitting 11 of its first 15 shots, started dropping 3-pointers. Bulls coach Billy Donovan talked about trying both box-and-one and zone defenses in a futile effort to slow Herro.
The Bulls trailed by 11 after the first quarter, thanks to a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Matas Buzelis. That deficit wasn't so bad, but Miami dominated the second quarter as well and took a 71-47 lead into halftime.
DeMar DeRozan's daughter wouldn't have been able to save the Bulls on this night. Jimmy Butler moving West made no difference. The Bulls made a push in the second half but got no closer than 13.
“I thought we came out with the wrong mindset,” Giddey said. “We beat these guys three times this year, we probably had that in the front of mind, like — 'We beat them already, we know what to do, we can do it.' And we just didn't. They punched us first and we didn't respond the way we had to.”
So the Bulls will settle for their consolation prize, a spot in the draft lottery. At the moment, the Bulls are tied with Dallas for the league's 12th-worst record. There will be a coin flip soon between those teams, unless the Mavs get past the play-in, and the Bulls could move up a spot if Miami beats Atlanta on Friday to make the actual playoffs.
Either way, the Bulls’ chances of landing the top pick and Duke's Cooper Flagg will be around 1%.
If nothing else, the Bulls at least showed there is some potential in the current nucleus of White, Giddey and Buzelis. The roster badly needs an injection of rim protection, defense and physicality.
“I was encouraged to see the jump that Coby and Josh made, and the jump Matas made,” Donovan said. “Are they there (all-star level) right now? No, but certainly Coby's inching closer and closer to that, in my opinion, with the way he's played.”
The Bulls used a fast pace to help produce a 15-5 record over the past 20 games of the regular season. In this game Miami kept the run game under control, which is how it usually goes in the NBA playoffs. The Bulls will need to be more versatile.
“Just grinding out wins was something we started to do at the end of the year,” Giddey said. “It's a positive sign and it's a good way to go into the summer. In terms of how we finished the year, I'm proud of this group and I think there's a lot of good things to take going forward.”