Reuters, CHICAGO: The Chicago Bulls staged a big third-quarter rally to help seal a 93-89 win over the Miami Heat on Thursday in a tight battle between two of the leading teams in the Eastern Conference.
The victory enabled the Bulls (39-17) to snap the Heat's three-game winning streak and moved the home team to within two games of second place Miami in the conference standings.
Miami (42-16) struggled through a disastrous third quarter to squander a 53-44 halftime lead, as the Bulls outscored the Heat 27-14, led by Luol Deng and Derrick Rose with 12 and 10 points respectively.
The teams took turns dominating in the fourth quarter which was finally decided by Deng's three-pointer to break an 89-89 tie with just 16 seconds remaining when Rose identified a double team as he drove the lane and passed to his wide open team mate.
"I love Derrick's play at the end of the game, trusting a team mate," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters.
"Miami's a terrific team. They're great defensively. They collapsed on him (Rose), and he made without hesitation the right play, and Lu (Deng) knocked a huge shot down."
Rose led the Bulls with 26 points and Deng scored 18 points in the second half to finish with 20, while Dwyane Wade scored 34 to lead the Heat and LeBron James scored 29 points.
Chris Bosh was limited to seven points for Miami on one-for-18 shooting from the field.
"They didn't do anything," Bosh said. "I just missed shots. They played good defense when it was time. That's what they're known for, but at the end of the day, I was what we call butt-naked wide open."
(Reporting by Mike Mouat in Windsor, Ontario; Editing by John O'Brien)
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