Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Heat overcome the Bulls’ late surge in Chicago

The Heat escaped the Bulls in Chicago on the second night of a back-to-back despite playing below standard in the half-court and transition. Jaime Jaquez Jr., Pelle Larsson and Dru Smith logged two field goals apiece in the fourth quarter, and their poor late-game execution didn’t cost them after allowing the hosts to scrape their way back after being down 10 in the last few minutes.

“We know what we are capable of defensively,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. They held the Bulls to 41.9% shooting in the second half, but it wasn’t so clean.

Their long and short-range accuracy was the story of the first half, but issues have persisted after intermission this season for Miami. The 3-point shooting went cold in the second half, plus they got outrebounded and the Bulls lived at the line.

On top of that, Ayo Dosunmu was Chicago’s only source of offense, getting loose for 15 fourth-quarter points. It was the highest-scoring quarter of his career.

Larsson stripped Coby White in Bulls territory, while up three with _ seconds left, but Norman Powell turned it over, and instantly committed a penalty. He was fortunate it wasn’t a transition take-foul because Chicago would’ve had possession after their two free throws. 

Still, Larsson scored on a sideline inbound too early, instead of running down the remaining seconds. This allowed the Bulls to call a timeout, then get a clean last look to tie, but Coby White missed from 28 feet. 

The Heat won 116-113 and had lots of help from the bench (50 points). It was also their 12th game this season scoring at least 60 points in the lane (9-3).

Takeaways:

• This was the makeup game from Jan. 8 that wasn’t played in Chicago because of the on-court condensation issue. This was the Bulls’ 29th clutch game of the season. 

• Jović played well on defense because he is getting better at throwing his size around. Still, the Heat are a small team, and their potency wanes when satisfied with their work. That was part of the problem in the fourth quarter as they couldn’t guard without fouling and they put themselves in bad positions by turning the ball over five times.

• Kel’el Ware didn’t play the fourth quarter, but he was still the team‘s best shot blocker and deep threat, making three treys. The team went small and conceded six offensive rebounds in the period. He was asked in the locker room about staying locked in after missing four games with a hamstring injury. He said, “Just doing what I can in my minutes. Whatever minutes I get, try to go out there and impact the game, and make it positive minutes.”

• It was another night that Jaquez was the team’s best scoring threat. He logged 19 points on 61.5% shooting, with 10 rebounds, six dimes and zero turnovers. Aside from corner trey, all other shots came from within 1-9 feet because he’s an expert at getting to the body. Keep in mind that he’s making 75% of attempts at close range this season, which is a 7.3% increase from last year.