Sweet win for Bulls
Some people find comfort in sitting down on Valentine's Day with a heart-shaped box of chocolates.
The Bulls spent the night with the NBA's version of comfort food, a date with the Miami Heat.
Even before the Heat turned into the league's worst team and traded Shaquille O'Neal to Phoenix, the Bulls had been dominating the series.
Their final game before the all-star break wasn't as easy as it should have been, but the Bulls managed to put away a 99-92 victory at the United Center to make it nine wins in their last 10 games against Miami.
Bulls coach Jim Boylan felt good enough to joke about the media's obsession with keeping Kirk Hinrich out of the starting lineup for a second straight game after recovering from a rib injury. Hinrich scored a team-high 24 points on Thursday.
"Kirk coming off the bench was fantastic," Boylan said. "Maybe I'll keep him coming off the bench for the rest of the season. ... Just kidding. Don't everyone get all crazy on me now. Take it easy."
For the first time in nearly three years, the Bulls had three players finish with double-doubles. Joe Smith finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds, Thabo Sefolosha had 17 and 12, while Tyrus Thomas added 10 and 12.
Thomas started in place of Ben Wallace, who was excused due to a death in the family, and was given the assignment of chasing Miami forward Shawn Marion, who was playing his third game for the Heat after being traded from Phoenix for O'Neal.
Thomas couldn't match Marion (23 points) on offense, but turned in a couple of impressive blocked shots. Thomas turned back a Marion dunk attempt and had another block on a fast break.
"Those are kind of easy buckets that he gets," Thomas said. "Just to take one or two of those away from him a game, it really helps. I've played against Shawn two times already this season (when he played for the Suns), so I knew what to expect."
Just two years removed from winning the NBA title, the Heat (9-42) lost its ninth in a row and has dropped 24 of its last 25 contests. Playing without power forward Udonis Haslem (sprained ankle), Miami was outrebounded 53-35.
Dwyane Wade had a nice game with 30 points, 7 assists and 7 rebounds. He took comfort in playing well at the United Center after struggling often in his home town.
"This was one of my better games here," Wade said. "Now I know that I can play here."
The Bulls (21-31) led for all but a few minutes of this game, but never could stretch the lead beyond 10 points. Every few minutes, Miami would knock down a couple of 3-pointers and be right back on the Bulls' tail.
In the fourth quarter, the Heat got as close as 82-81 with 4:55 remaining after a Wade bank shot. Hinrich answered with a jumper, then Smith knocked down a pair of shots to put the Bulls ahead 88-83.
Miami still wasn't through. Another former Sun, guard Marcus Banks, nailed a 3-pointer to make it 89-87 with 2:31 left before another Hinrich jumper gave the Bulls some breathing room and they finished off the win at the foul line.
For the 10th time in the last 12 games, the Bulls played without top scorers Ben Gordon (sprained right wrist) and Luol Deng (left Achilles tendinitis).