Bulls get burned by the Heat
Giving someone like Dwyane Wade a second chance at a game-winning play is never a smart idea.
The Bulls thwarted the first opportunity when Kirk Hinrich stole an inbounds pass intended for Wade. Then the Bulls gave it right back when Wade intercepted a bad inbounds toss by Thabo Sefolosha with 3.5 seconds remaining.
On Miami's second try, Wade caught the pass, drew a double team and found a streaking Shawn Marion for the game-winning dunk in the Heat's 95-93 victory at the United Center on Thursday.
All this came after the Bulls (23-30) erased a 7-point deficit in the final 1:12, tying the game when Ben Gordon (34 points) drew a foul outside the 3-point arch and canned all 3 free throws with 6.5 seconds on the clock.
"We had our chances at the end," Gordon said. "All we had to do was get the ball inbounds. It's definitely a heartbreaker when you work that hard to get back in the game and have a chance to win it."
Following Gordon's free throws, Wade actually yanked Hinrich's jersey in an attempt to get open under the basket. But Hinrich recovered to step in front of Wade, steal the pass and call time out with 4.7 seconds left.
Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro made a surprising lineup decision on the ensuing possession, leaving rookie guard Derrick Rose on the bench and choosing Sefolosha, who played just six minutes, to throw the ball in.
Sefolosha searched for an opening, then finally tried to hit Gordon in the corner, but Wade jumped up to catch the ball and called time out just before falling out of bounds.
"It wasn't that tough of a duty," Sefolosha said. "But we had no timeouts, so I was really looking for the first and second option that we had. After that, I knew the time was running out, so I had to get rid of it.
"We've got the five (Joakim Noah) supposed to be coming back to the ball to be the safety valve. I was really looking at Ben, so I don't know exactly who was open on that."
Del Negro felt there were openings that Sefolosha missed.
"We had the opportunity," Del Negro said. "Ben was pretty open in the corner. Dwyane made a nice play on the steal; could have thrown it over him. Then Kirk Hinrich was out on top there. It's one of those things, if you execute the play and you make it, then it was the right way."
On Miami's final play, Tyrus Thomas was concerned about a lob to Wade and he sagged off Marion, who threw the inbounds pass. Thomas then followed Wade to the perimeter for a double-team, but that left no one on Marion, who took the pass and dunked the ball before any defender had a chance to help.
"Dwyane got a perfect read on it," said Marion, who played with his left eye taped open because a bruised orbit was keeping his lid closed. "I was going to go over the top (with the pass), but then Tyrus broke away."
The Bulls head into the all-star break 2 games behind Milwaukee for eighth place in the East. They'll play the Bucks on the road next Wednesday.
<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=271813">Heat wins on Wade's audible <span class="date">[XX/XX/XX]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>