Miami survives slow start
Heat win third in row after scoring 7 points during first quarter.
CHICAGO — The best and the worst of the Miami Heat were on display during Sunday’s matinee against the Bulls.
Miami scored seven points in the first quarter, missing all but two of its 19 shots, but recovered to pour in 38 in the second. The Heat then held on for a 100-93 victory at the United Center, running their winning streak to a season-high three games. The Heat (10-9) are above .500 for just the second time. Miami was 2-1 after three games.
“We’re trending,” James Johnson said. “We’ve been trending in the right direction. We’re going to take some bumps and
bruises along the way, but as long as we’re playing consistent and stick to our habits I think everything is always going to fall our way.”
Goran Dragic led the Heat with 24 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter. Wayne Ellington had another big game off the bench with 19. He was 5 of 8 from the floor, with all eight shots 3-pointers. Dragic played the entire fourth quarter along with four bench players, Ellington, Tyler Johnson, James Johnson and Kelly Olynyk.
“We came here to get a job done,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “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.”
The Bulls (3-15) have the worst record in the league and were coming off a 143-94 loss at Golden State. Chicago has lost 10 of 11.
Here are five takeaways from the game:
Ellington stays hot: The Heat can partly thank Ellington for avoiding what would have been a demoralizing loss. He is 20 of 35 on 3’s during the last four games. His biggest 3 of the game came with just under three minutes to play and gave Miami an eight-point lead. And Ellington added another weapon to his game. Twice he was fouled while shooting the 3, turning one into a four-point play and nailing all three free throws the second time.
“It’s easy,” Dragic said about playing offense when Ellington is lighting it up. “It can give up some spacing that you can drive a lot. You can get inside the middle. Chicago was blitzing me and Dion (Waiters) so we just have to get off the ball and trust everybody else to make a play and they did.”
Whiteside story: Hassan Whiteside started after sitting out Saturday’s practice because of a sore left knee but he did not play the final 16:15. Whiteside declared himself ready to play after warmups and played 21:19, scoring 11 with nine rebounds. But at times it appeared as if the knee was an issue and Whiteside ended the game applying heat to it, although he said he is fine. Whiteside missed five games earlier this season