Lowly Heat officially eliminate Bulls
MIAMI -- If a team is going to be eliminated from the playoffs, it might as well leave no question about its playoff worthiness.
The Bulls officially were knocked out of postseason contention for the first time in four years by losing 95-88 to the Miami Heat, the NBA's worst team, on Tuesday night at American Airlines Arena.
Miami (14-64) had lost seven straight and played without Dwyane Wade, Shawn Marion and Udonis Haslem, all out for the season with various injuries.
This defeat doesn't end the season for the Bulls (30-47), who have five games remaining, beginning tonight in Orlando. But it was an appropriate result for a team that failed miserably to meet high expectations.
Picked by many to win the Eastern Conference, the Bulls started the season 2-10, fired coach Scott Skiles on Dec. 24, then hung in the playoff race despite missing top scorers Luol Deng and Ben Gordon for several games because of injuries.
On Feb. 21, the Bulls gave up on free-agent acquisition Ben Wallace less than two years after signing him to a $60 million contract. Wallace and Joe Smith went to Cleveland for Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden and others, but the Bulls never found any chemistry and still haven't won more than two games in a row all season.
"We need to become a better defensive team," Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich said. "The teams who usually compete for the NBA championship are almost always one of the best defensive teams in the league."
The only race that matters now is for lottery chances. The Bulls have just a half-game lead over Charlotte for 11th place in the East and easily could drop to the No. 8 draft slot before the regular season ends next week.
Deng played well for the Bulls on Tuesday, hitting 9 of 11 shots for 25 points, though he did have a team-high 5 turnovers and scored just 6 points after halftime. Center Joakim Noah finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds.
The guards, however, didn't shoot well. Gordon scored 16 points but hit just 4 of 13 shots. Larry Hughes went 3-for-10 from the field for 6 points.
Kasib Powell, a 6-foot-7 forward who spent time with the Bulls a few years back, led Miami with 18 points, while Chris Quinn and Ricky Davis scored 16 each.
The Bulls led for most of the first half and took their largest advantage at 59-48 with 8:33 remaining in the third quarter. But Miami answered with 12 straight points and led 69-67 at the end of three on Joel Anthony's tip-in at the buzzer.
After Chris Duhon's 3-pointer brought the Bulls within 76-73 with 8:53 remaining, the visitors went scoreless for three minutes while Miami pulled out to an 84-73 advantage with 5:44 left.
The Heat stretched the lead to 14 points before the Bulls finished the game on a 7-0 run.