Heat bumbles upset bid in Chicago

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FEELING THE HEAT

As the game wore on, the Miami Heat got colder Tuesday:   FG Pct. Points First quarter 45.5 25 Second quarter 50.0 25 Third quarter 33.3 17 Fourth quarter 23.1 11

And so it was Tuesday night at the United Center, when the Bulls, returning from a vacation, needed a long time to defrost before putting away the bold Miami Heat in Game 1 of the NBA's Eastern Conference finals.

The Bulls, down by 16, fastened their defense and pinched Miami hard in the second half. The defending NBA champions limited the Heat to 28 points and six lonely field goals. Chicago's defense was so suffocating, Miami attempted only 22 shots in the second half, making 27 percent.

The mostly lethargic Bulls won 84-77 by turning up their own heat in the fourth quarter, but only after making Chicago squirm and sweat. We discovered that the Bulls are not as spectacular while yawning.

"We didn't have a desperate energy," Bulls coach Phil Jackson said.

Indeed. A weird thing happened in the week that the Bulls rested: They turned into the Cubs. After mopping up Atlanta in the second round, the Bulls had some free time on their hands, and they clearly did not utilize the leisure period to practice their jump shots.

Michael Jordan pulls up for two of his game-high 37 points.

The Bulls could do nothing right in the first half. They shot 25 percent in the first quarter, 30.6 percent overall for the half. Backup forwards Brian Williams and Toni Kukoc led the parade of balloons, shooting a combined 0-for-11. During one staggering stretch of misfiring, the Bulls clanked 23 of 26 shots, and Miami created a 15-point lead.

Miami was going, well, nuts. Coach Pat Riley, who knows a thing or two about postseason motivation, was in rare form during the New York series in the previous round, telling his players stories about overmatched (but courageous) Chinese marauders and a Kentucky Derby champion that finished a horse race on a broken leg before dying on the track.

This time, Riley gave the Heat a history lesson.

"When I was coaching the Lakers, I thought we were going to be immortal," Riley said. "I thought, 'This team will never get old. I'll be here 50 years coaching these guys.'

"Because I never wanted it to end. It ended, though. Some teams even get beat when they are still the best. Every single champion -- every one -- has lost somewhere, sometime, against somebody, and it isn't always against the team that's supposed to be the next in line."

The message: Miami could be next in line.

Why not?

Guard Voshon Lenard, who shot only 34 percent in the Knicks series, made four of Miami's seven 3-pointers in the first half. Center Alonzo Mourning scored 13 points and blocked five shots. The Heat feared nothing. Not the Chicago neighborhood, not the United Center, not the championship banners, not Jordan. Miami led by 11 at the half.

LOSING IT LATE

The Heat's 28-point second half ties Miami for the second-lowest in playoff history. A breakdown of Miami's woes in the third and fourth quarters:   Third Fourth Points 17 11 FGs 3-9 3-13 3-pt. 2-3 1-8 FTs 9-12 4-12

The Bulls just needed some time to warm up, so consider the first half a shootaround.

"We woke up at halftime and got ourselves in order," Jackson said.

It was kind of cruel, actually -- a mean, prolonged tease that left Miami drained. Miami caught the Bulls in a snooze and had a terrific opportunity to snatch Game 1. Rust never sleeps, and the same thing could be said for Jordan and the Bulls.

Lenard didn't even attempt a shot in the final two quarters. Miami had only two fast-break points in the second half (after scoring 14 on the break in the first half). Point guard Tim Hardaway dissolved, missing 10 of 14 shots and scoring only 13 points. Hardaway had only two assists in the second half, and Mourning didn't get the ball.

Mourning made one basket in the second half and lost the glass to the relentless Dennis Rodman, who led the Bulls with 19 rebounds. The Bulls owned the rim in the second half, outrebounding Miami 25-10.

And Rodman scored another victory by getting on Mourning's nerves.

"You all know Dennis," Mourning said. "You know his antics. It's unfortunate that we, as players, have to put up with that."

Mourning vowed to "turn the other cheek" when Rodman acts up. 'Zo also may want to consider grabbing a rebound when it matters.

"We outplayed that team," Mourning said.

Uh-huh.

Jordan made seven of 12 shots in the second half and finished with 37 points. Scottie Pippen blended in some wonderful basketball -- he was a force at both ends -- and chipped in with 24 points. The Bulls made 10 steals, eight of them in the second half.

"They obviously showed their greatness in the end," Riley said of the Bulls. "We succumbed."

Riley winced at the suggestion that the Heat faded because of combat fatigue from the seven-game skirmish with the Knicks.

"No, we were fresh tonight," Riley said. "We played a great 40, 45 minutes. We weathered the storm in the third quarter. We had a lead going into the fourth quarter. It was their pressure defense. It wasn't fatigue."

It was fate. In the end, the Bulls were the Bulls. Champions. And the Heat were a tropical mirage.

Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.