Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Heat hold off Bulls in Chicago for win and move above .500.
Whiteside, Waiters sit in fourth as reserves finish
CHICAGO — When the score stood at 13-7 at the end of the first quarter, with his team trailing, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra wasn’t sure there would be much worth celebrating Sunday at the United Center.
“If the game would have kept on going like that,” he said, “I think everybody would have wanted a refund and we probably would have paid for it as an organization. That was ugly in that first quarter for both teams — 13-7, it looked like a misprint.”
The final score looked far more palatable, as did where it left the Heat’s ledger.
With the 100-93 victory over the Chicago Bulls, the Heat moved to 10-9, the first time that have stood above .500 since the third game of the season.
But just as that opening period was off script, so was what followed, with Hassan Whiteside and Dion Waiters both sitting out the final period as the Heat put it away, the game as close as a one-point Heat lead with 8:32 left and a two-point Heat lead with 5:40 to play.
“Hey, we came here to get a job done,” Spoelstra said of going without Whiteside and Waiters at the finish. “The guys understand that and that lineup was creating separation. There’s nothing more to it than that. Every game is different. But those guys really did a nice job in the fourth quarter. I wasn’t going to change that up.”
Starting point guard Goran Dragic, who played mostly with the reserves at the finish, led the Heat with 24 points, supported by 19 points from backup guard Wayne Ellington and 15 from backup forward James Johnson.
“We have a lot of weapons and you have sometimes different players are going to finish the game, including me, sometimes I’m going to be on the bench,” he said, “as long as we win games. The last two games against Minnesota and this game, most of the guys were from the second unit and we finished well. But that doesn’t mean we’re going to finish every game the same.”
The common threat lately has been victories, now four in the past five games.
“I don’t think we ever look at it like Dion or Whiteside or Dragon,” Johnson said of Dragic’s nickname, “We have a lot of weapons on this team. We have a lot of guys who can do it. We’re all playing our roles.”
Whiteside was a question mark going in because of the knee pain that kept him out of Saturday’s practice.
Spoelstra said that discomfort was not at issue.
“He’s fine,” Spoelstra said. “It’s the same that he’s been dealing with.”
Whiteside closed with 11 points and nine rebounds, playing 21 minutes, 19 seconds.
“I was just keeping it warm, so if coach needs me I’m ready,” Whiteside said of wearing a heating pad on his knee during the fourth quarter. “We got the win, so those guys played great. That’s all that matters.”
Whiteside sat alongside Waiters at the close.
“It was different,” he said, “but at the end of the day, we got the win and coach made that decision.”
Waiters closed 2 of 10 from the field for seven points, playing 26:02.
“I’m a competitor,” Waiters said. “I want to be out there, but it is what is, man. We got the win. I’m proud of the guys that went out there who finished the game off.
“Any given night it can be anybody. Games like that you want to go out there, but sometimes you just have to roll with the punches, man.”
Not only were the Bulls returning from a four-game western swing following a Saturday flight from San Francisco, not only were they still adjusting to the two-hour time change for a 2:30 p.m. Central tipoff, not only did they enter with nine losses in their past 10, but they were coming off Friday night’s 143-94 loss to the Golden State Warriors.
The Heat had four players in double figures in scoring by the end of the third period, but no one with more than Whiteside’s 11 points.
The Heat followed up their seven-point first quarter with a 38-point second period to move to a 45-42 halftime lead.
After shooting 2 of 19 in the opening period, the Heat shot 13 of 19 in the second, with Wayne Ellington with three 3-pointers at the intermission.
The Heat were fortunate to only be down 13-7 at the close of the first quarter, thanks to Chicago’s 4 of 24 inaccuracy. The Heat mixed in five turnovers in the opening period, the Bulls three.
It was the lowest-scoring first quarter in franchise history.