Heat unable to sustain, wilt in 113-99 loss to weary Bulls
Published in Basketball
CHICAGO — The good news for the Miami Heat is that to advance out of the play-in round, you only have to win one game in a row.
Because anything extended at the moment appears to be out of the reach of Erik Spoelstra’s team.
Failing for the second time in 10 days to produce the team’s first three-game winning streak in a month, the Heat instead fell, 113-99, Saturday night to the Chicago Bulls at the United Center.
And in a season of bad losses in good spots, this one was right up there.
Not only were the Heat coming off two days’ rest, idle since Wednesday night’s home blowout victory over the Memphis Grizzlies, but the Bulls were coming off a double-overtime home victory a night earlier.
And yet, until late, it was as if the Heat were the team lacking legs, ending the season series at 0-3 against the Bulls.
While a late rally did draw the Heat within three in the fourth, it was the classic case of a team running out of fuel.
The rested team.
Not the other that had played a night earlier to their last breath.
Jimmy Butler led the Heat with 24 points and seven rebounds, with Bam Adebayo closing with 23 points and seven rebounds, and Tyler Herro with 15 points. But otherwise there was little in reserve beyond Max Strus’ 20 points off the bench.
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