Heat employs some rough, tough tactics
When LeBron James took his talents to South Beach in 2010, the goal was supposed to be multiple NBA titles, not to kick sand in someone’s face.
With a chance to tighten the race for the Eastern Conference lead, Miami used some roughhouse tactics during an 83-72 victory over the Bulls on Thursday at American Airlines Arena.
The game featured two flagrant fouls by the Heat, one ejection and a nasty blindside screen.
“Every time we play them that’s how it’s going to be,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters after the game. “You have to have the mental toughness to get through all of that.”
The end result brought Miami within 1 game in the loss column of the first-place Bulls. The Heat own most of the tiebreaker scenarios, but the Bulls can still wrap up the top playoff seed by beating Dallas, Indiana and Cleveland to finish the regular season.
Derrick Rose missed his third game with a sore right ankle. There’s a chance Rose could return Saturday when the Bulls host the Mavericks, but they have three days off after that contest, making a longer rest possible.
Forward Luol Deng came back after missing two games with bruised ribs. Miami rested power forward Chris Bosh, starting 6-foot-11 Dexter Pittman and Udonis Haslem at the inside position.
Maybe the change made a difference on defense. Joel Anthony ended up playing most of the minutes at center and the Bulls were credited with just 20 points in the paint. They also lost the rebound battle 45-40 and grabbed 7 offensive boards.
The Bulls had 15 offensive rebounds and 19 second-chance points last week when they beat the Heat in Chicago.
Midway through the second quarter on Thursday, Miami 3-point specialist James Jones was hit with a flagrant 2 foul, which carries an automatic ejection.
Joakim Noah was battling for rebound position while Deng launched a 3-point shot and Jones threw a forearm into Noah when the ball was in the air.
The Heat picked up a second flagrant foul in the third quarter, this one by Dwyane Wade against Richard Hamilton. While Wade guarded Hamilton closely on the perimeter, Hamilton leaned in with a shoulder to clear some space and Wade responded by shoving Hamilton to the ground.
“Like Detroit all over again,” Wade said. “One of those pesky defenders who gets away with a lot of stuff. I just decided to bring a little more attention to it.”
Miami roughed it up again a few minutes later when James flattened John Lucas III with a backcourt screen. No foul was called on the play, even though it appeared James threw his shoulder into Lucas during the collision.
Lucas jumped to his feet and confronted James, who pushed the smaller guard away with a two-handed shove. Both players were given technical fouls.
“I don’t think I did anything illegal,” James said. “I just set a solid screen. But I knew I had him.”
The Bulls started the game by hitting 7 of their first 8 shots, but the offensive prowess didn’t last. Trailing most of the night, they finally showed some life after falling behind by 11 points late in the third quarter.
The visitors pulled within 66-61 at the end of three quarters, Lucas opened the fourth with a jumper, then Deng and Lucas both missed potential tying 3-pointers. A Taj Gibson jumper kept the deficit at 3 points with nine minutes left, but the Bulls went cold and quickly fell behind by 10 points.
Lucas led the Bulls with 16 points, while Noah added 15 points and 10 rebounds. The Bulls hit just 2 of 16 shots from 3-point range,
“We wanted it bad, but they wanted it more,” Noah said. “That can’t happen.”
mmcgraw@dailyherald.com