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We have our first elimination of the 2025 NBA Play-In Tournament.
The No. 9 Chicago Bulls slogged through an unfocused, undisciplined and ineffective first half at home, falling to the No. 10 Miami Heat, 109-90.
Heat All-Star guard Tyler Herro laced his first eight shot attempts and finished with 38 points on 13-of-19 shooting to lead all players. Point guard Josh Giddey led Chicago with 25 points, but the Bulls were held to 39.8% shooting from the floor.
Miami now travels to Atlanta to face the Hawks on Friday night in an elimination game, with the winner claiming the East’s No. 8 seed and a matchup against the No. 1 Cleveland Cavaliers.
Here are three takeaways from Wednesday night’s Bulls-Heat play-in game:
Plagued all season by slow starts, Bulls dig themselves a hole too big
Chicago’s defensive intention in the first half of an elimination game was — frankly — insulting. Miami started 9-of-11 from the field and scored its first 10 points in the paint. Three of those early attempts were uncontested layups when Herro breezed through the lane.
The easy buckets, naturally, unlocked the rest of Herro’s portfolio; he scored 16 in the first quarter and made his first eight attempts, overall. Bulls players stood around, pointed fingers, did not communicate well and seemingly moved more slowly than Miami.
This has been an issue all season: Chicago tied for 22nd in first-half defensive rating (115.6) and tied for 25th in first-half net rating (-5.4). The Bulls will have all offseason to ponder a solution.
Plagued all season by incompetent second halves, Heat respond in the fourth
Miami lost an NBA-worst 15 games this season after carrying a lead into the fourth quarter. The Heat were 14-28 in clutch games. Wednesday night, they held a 24-point lead at the half and saw it evaporate to 14 after scoring only 17 points in the third quarter. It appeared inevitable that Chicago, which swept Miami in three regular season games (including a pair of fourth-quarter comebacks), would close the gap.
The Heat, though, led once again by Herro, withstood Chicago’s attempts to claw back into the game, clamping down on defense. Miami limited the Bulls to just 16 points in the fourth quarter, and just 90 overall — a season low. This against a Chicago team that averaged 121.1 points per game over its last 28.
The bad news for Miami: Cleveland — if the Heat beats the Hawks Friday — is not Chicago, and Miami would not be able to afford inefficient second halves against the NBA’s top offense.
Erik Spoelstra masterclass shows why Miami can be tough out
Regarded widely as one of the premier coaches in the NBA, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra created a decided advantage Wednesday night with his gameplan. The Bulls ranked second in pace, generating 103.61 possessions per 48 minutes. And while Miami clearly focused on getting back in transition, the Heat, perhaps unconventionally, tried to outrun the Bulls.
Miami, which ranked 27th in pace (97.08), pushed the tempo, unsettling Chicago’s defense and leading to uncontested looks. The easy buckets in turn stifled Chicago’s offense, preventing transition opportunities. At the half, Chicago had scored just four fast break points.
And then on defense, Spoelstra matched up do-it-all defender Bam Adebayo, who starts at power forward, against Bulls point guard Josh Giddey, the player who had given Miami fits. Giddey did have his 25 points, but his four assists were well below his season average of 7.2 per game.
