Another Heat Extinguishing

When I learned a Bulls-Heat matchup coincided with my trip to Minnesota to see the Blackhawks play the Wild, I was initially a little bummed.  Then, Derrick Rose went out, so the blow was somewhat lessened.  After watching the Blackhawks lose, I got to see most of the second half of Thursday's 107-87 Bulls win, so the night wasn't a total wash.

Carlos Boozer scored 27 and Luol Deng had 20, but the more telling stats were the team ones.  The Bulls shot 50 percent from the field, held the Heat to a season-low 41.6 percent shooting and Miami grabbed just nine rebounds in the first half.  While the Heat certainly did enough to shoot themselves in the foot, they were just as much a punching bag for a Bulls team that need someone to take all their recent frustrations on.  Who better than the defending champs?

Never mind that this was a victory the Bulls sorely needed after a bad road trip and a triple-overtime loss to the Pelicans afterward.  Also forget that Dwyane Wade sat this one out with an illness.  All this does is merely add to the legacy of the Bulls giving everything they've got every time they play Miami, regardless of stakes.  It's always enjoyable, especially when it comes in front of a bloodthirsty United Center crowd.

I won't pretend to know how the Heat choose to approach any given regular-season game.  I can't read one person's mind, let alone those of a whole basketball team.  Still, you have to wonder if this is just their way of conserving energy for when the games really count in the playoffs.  Depleted Bulls teams have gutted out wins against mostly healthy Heat teams before.  As we've seen though, it all changes when a championship is close by.  They will come out like a steamroller against the Bulls when they absolutely need to.

Don't get me wrong when I say I love whenever the Bulls knock off the Heat, regardless of what type of game is being played.  I just think it's gotten to a point where we have to recognize there are two kinds of Miami teams that come out with the Bulls.  No Derrick Rose means the defending champs should be handling the Bulls more easily.  Then again, they completely shut Rose down on opening night, resulting in a blowout victory.  A lot of it doesn't seem to make sense.  Of course, I'm just an outsider viewing these games on TV.  There's probably more to these games than we realize, so it's almost impossible to figure it out.

There was also the story of Rose not ruling out a postseason return, but that can be touched on another time.  I'm about to head to Target Field in below freezing temperatures, which is definitely unusual for December, but it's the Twin Cities, so that's acceptable here.  In the meantime, enjoy Saturday's game against the Detroit Pistons.  Hopefully, another blowout like the one against the Miami and the one in Auburn Hills last week is in order.