The Miami Heat players had a simple explanation for why they lost to the Bulls 107-89 Tuesday night to fall behind 2-0 in this first-round NBA playoff series.
“Their shots were going in,” said Dwyane Wade, who led the Heat with 21 points but added seven turnovers to match Shaquille O’Neal’s seven fumbles. “When the shots start missing, it won’t be the same. The have guys throwing the ball up court, going one on one, shooting the ball. It’s hit or miss. Tonight they were hitting.”
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But the Bulls’ performance was a little more than luck and good fortune.
The Bulls shot at least 50 percent each quarter, 55.1 percent for the game.
Their hot shooting came, essentially, from exploiting the strength of the Heat. Miami is a deliberate post-up, half-court team that mostly walks the ball up court and takes instruction on most plays from coach Pat Riley. That kind of game enables a defensive team like the Bulls, especially with the addition of Ben Wallace, to set up its defense to counter. It also allows a quick team to strike before the Miami defense sets.
That type of offense looks good when the shots go in, like they did in Game 2, but it also exploits the Heat’s weaknesses.
However, because Miami is the defending champion, it’s not like its system of play doesn’t work.
It just doesn’t work as well when Wade isn’t at full health, which he isn’t close to with a serious left shoulder injury, and O’Neal cannot beat you with his dominance anymore.
“They just outplayed us,”said O’Neal, who stayed out of foul trouble and had 17 points with eight rebounds. “I had way too many turnovers. They shot the ball extremely well. We have to do the little things, compete harder, rebound the ball better, take care of the basketball.
“I’ve been around a long time and been through all these situations before. Basically, the Bulls did what they were supposed to do, protect their home court. We have to play smarter basketball, come with a lot more energy and play with a lot more effort and passion.
“We cannot really make any excuses. We have to step up to the challenge and just play. They play[ed] way above their heads. Right now they’re playing with more energy, getting all the loose balls. They’re just playing harder.”
It’s one thing to acknowledge it. It’s another to combat it.
There were key junctures in Tuesday night’s game, and the Bulls won them all — an Andres Nocioni spurt for seven points in less than 12 seconds to end the first quarter with still another Wade mistake, Luol Deng and Ben Gordon sprinting into open spots for jumpers to end the half, Miami players out of position on the defensive boards at the end of the third quarter as the Bulls scored on second chances in three of five possessions.
The Bulls had the speed last year, but Miami had the Flash in Wade, who saved three of the four Miami victories in that first-round series. That Wade is a memory. It’s almost as painful to watch him struggle with that shoulder as it is to him. The Bulls make O’Neal work with Wallace behind him and the perimeter guys stunting as he moves into the lane. By the second half, O’Neal has seemed winded in both games. And it appeared Wade took another tweak in his shoulder late when he winced in pain.
Riley effectively acknowledged coming back against the Bulls will be more difficult than last year’s 0-2 recovery over Dallas in the Finals because by then the Heat was in playoff shape at the end of its run.
He also sees an angry Bulls team, one that seemed defeated only a week ago.
“I thought one of the best things that happened to Chicago, I hate to say it, was that loss at New Jersey (to end the regular season and get the Heat instead of the supposedly easier Nets or Wizards matchup),” Riley said. “It really [ticked] them off.
“When they got beat there everyone said, ‘Oh, God, we did not get what we wanted.’ To get born out of that kind of adversity comes something else. I think you saw that in the first two games. We have to find a way to mitigate some of the things they are doing very successfully against us.”
Resolve is nice, which the Heat said it would carry into Game 2. It failed because Miami was beaten in rebounding, fast breaks and second-chance points. The Bulls proved quicker, more aggressive and opportunistic. That’s how they are built. The Heat is constructed for, as Riley would say, force and power around a relentless, committed effort.
Miami tried to go small against the Bulls late and had some success in closing within seven points with less than nine minutes left.
But then Deng scored on a pair of jumpers, and a weary O’Neal went back into the game to watch the Bulls shoot further ahead.
“This game can change very quickly,” Riley said. “We found that out last year. Just when you think it is at the worst, you find it is just the beginning.”
But for the Heat, it is looking more like an end for a staggering, beaten-up champion.
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