The Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat sit side-by-side in the Eastern Conference, and you could see why from the moment the ball was tipped tonight.
While Miami held the advantage for much of the first half, the Bulls were only one step behind. Ball movement was the name of the game for both teams, as neither walked into the locker room with a player in double figures as the score sat at 49-46 in Miami’s favor. In fact, the only real difference between the two squads over the first two frames was their ability to take care of the basketball. Chicago has been solid in this department all season, but Miami’s physical defense forced them into an uncharacteristic 13 first-half turnovers. And, unfortunately, that sloppiness continued.
When the final buzzer sounded, the Bulls had a season-high 23 turnovers compared to the Heat’s 10. Miami added 21 points off those mishaps, and that ultimately felt like the deciding factor in this game. However, what also surely didn’t help Chicago was the fact that Alex Caruso finished as the team’s second-leading scorer. I mean no disrespect to the headband-wearing king – who truly did all he could to keep Chicago in that game – but when Caruso outscores Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic, it’s hard to imagine things will ever end well.
Unlike the Rockets loss earlier this week, I don’t find myself sulking over this outcome. The Miami Heat have been right there with the Bulls as one of the East’s best teams to start the season, and losing one game to them isn’t worth getting too worked up about. Now, with that said, the Bulls need to learn from this. These two squads are in line to be duking it out for playoff seeding, and the next time they meet on December 11th, they will need to prove they can be the better team.
Check out the full box score here.