News / Sports
NBA Scores: Bulls Second Half Surge Too Much for Heat, Take 2-0 Series Lead
Ben Gordon scored 27 points and grabbed 7 rebounds while Luol Deng added 26 points and 6 assists as the Chicago Bulls shot 55 percent from the field and beat the Miami Heat 107-89 to put the defending NBA champions in a 2-0 hole in their Eastern Conference playoff series.
Miami stayed close for most of the first quarter but Andres Nocioni hit a pair of three-pointers and sank a free-throw in the final 11 seconds of the period and Chicago took a 31-21 lead into the second.
The Heat climbed their way back into the game in the second and after James Posey hit consecutive three-pointers Miami was down by just one. Nocioni put the Bulls up by four with another triple but Jason Kapono evened the score on a jumper with 1:47 left in the half. Chicago was able to close the half with a 7-4 spurt and took a 55-52 lead at the half.
Chicago broke away from the Heat with a 16-3 run to open the third quarter and led by as many as 17 before closing the period with an 85-71 lead.
Miami cut the deficit to seven when they opened the fourth on an 11-4 run but that was as close as they would get. Deng scored 14 of the Bulls first 16 points in the quarter and Chicago was up by as many as 21 before Jason Williams hit a three-pointer to close the game.
The Bulls hit 11-17 from beyond the three-point line and held Dwyane Wade to 21 points and Shaquille O’Neal to 17 in the game.
Game three of the best of seven series will be played in Miami on Friday night.
