TNT
Without Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich, and Luol Deng, the depleted
What a stunner.
Miami was favored by 12.5 points coming in.
As they've done all year, the Heat kept it closer than expected through the first three quarters. But the fourth-quarter death blow we usually see from Miami never came, the Bulls hit some timely shots, and now a series that no one thought would be close has gotten much more interesting.
Nate Robinson was massive down the stretch. First, he put Mario Chalmers on skates with some fancy crossovers and hit a step-back to put Chicago up by two with 1:18 left. Then he drove to the rim and made an uncontested lay-up to ice it with 45 seconds left.
Here's the video of the two shots:
Miami is still the big favorite to win the series. They looked rusty after not playing for a week, missing a ton of open shots in the first half. It stands to reason that those shots will start falling once they get their legs under them.
But this is all about the Bulls — who are the embodiment of toughness and passion right now.
Only six Chicago players played more than 10 minutes, Jimmy Butler had 21 points and 14 boards while playing the entire game, and Nate was the hero was 27 points and 9 assists.
Not the prettiest game of the playoffs, but what an incredible performance by Chicago.