Chicago 103, Miami 71

Game flow

CHICAGO -- Michael Jordan scored 28 points Wednesday night and Toni Kukoc added 26 as the Chicago Bulls extended the best start in franchise history and remained the league's only unbeaten team with a 103-71 rout of the Miami Heat.

Alonzo Mourning rejects Scottie Pippen for one of the few Miami highlights.

Kukoc and Jordan keyed a 13-5 run to start the second half, scoring six and five points respectively, as the Bulls opened a 59-43 advantage. Chicago sealed the victory with a 12-2 spurt later in the period.

"Phil has a lot of faith in me this year coming off the bench," Kukoc said of Bulls coach Phil Jackson. "They trust me to shoot the ball and I have been making the majority of my shots. But everything starts with our defense and we were able to shut down their offense tonight."

The Bulls (8-0), who completed a sweep of their three-game homestand, have won their first eight games and are ahead of last season's pace, when they won a record 72 games.

"It was the kind of game where we had to grind it out for three quarters and then the dam broke loose for us," Jackson said.

Alonzo Mourning led Miami with 20 points and P.J. Brown added 12. The Heat have won five of seven games this season, with both losses coming to Chicago.

"This was like a highlight film," Heat coach Pat Riley said of Chicago's performance. "It was a defensive clinic that they put on. We had no energy from the start. They just dominated us.

"The difference in the game was Kukoc. He was hot even though we were able to shut down Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan by percentages."