The Bulls just won a Game 7 on the road for the first time in franchise history, while many of their best players were either out or playing with injuries. And that, as it turns out, was the easy part, because now Chicago has to face heavy championship-favorite Miami.

The Bulls get a full day of rest before taking on Miami Monday night in AmericaAirlines Arena, where the Heat have lost just four games all season. One of those defeats came at the hands of the Bulls, in early January. You may have also heard about the other Bulls’ victory in the series this season, one that put an end to Miami’s 27-game winning streak.

Lots was made of the Bulls “hard fouls” and “tackling” in that streak busting victory, which will surely be a talking point and something to watch throughout the series. But let’s not forget the most flagrant foul of the entire series was when LeBron James lost his cool and elbowed Carlos Boozer. It’s no secret these teams don’t like each other, but to call anything the Bulls have done “cheap” is disingenuous. The Bulls aren’t going to give any easy baskets to their opponent. That goes for the Bobcats or the Heat.

But there’s no question there will be some flagrants in this series. Chicago won’t back down and neither will Miami, but there is a difference between hard fouls and cheap fouls.

If you thought the Bulls faced an uphill battle in Round 1, just wait for this series. You probably won’t be able to find an “expert” picking against the Heat—only Henry Abbot, Bradford Doolittle and Chris Palmer have the series going longer than five games on ESPN.com out of the 17 experts—and rightfully so. Miami cruised through the regular season, piling up a league-best 66 wins, while LeBron nearly unanimously won his fourth MVP award.

The Bulls split the season series with the Heat, with Miami’s victories both coming by double digits, including one game that the Bulls managed just 67 points. Both of Chicago’s victories were by single digits.

There is good news for the Bulls. First, it’s unlikely they can be any more injured than they were in Game 6 and 7 against the Nets. In all seriousness, Joakim Noah has looked better than he has in some time now the last two games out, making it appear like his plantar fasciitis has subsided somewhat. Jo had a huge Game 7, tallying 24 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks, leading the Bulls to victory.

He was healthy for only two of the four games against Miami, and the Bulls went 1-1 with their starting center. Jo averaged 12.0 points on 45.5 percent from the field, 10.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists.

Miami will have seven days of rest since sweeping the Bucks in the first round. That gives Dwyane Wade some time to heal from a bruised right knee, but it also opens the possibility of the Heat being a little rusty in Game 1. Wade is expected to play Monday, but with the Bulls still in a rhythm after Game 7 Saturday night, a quick Chicago start could help them steal Game 1.

Luol Deng is officially out for tonight’s game and hasn’t yet joined the team in Miami. Deng received a blood patch to stop spinal fluid leakage after getting a spinal tap to test for meningitis. Deng does just about as good a job as anyone can in trying to slow down LeBron James, and without Lu, it shifts the Bulls defense a little out of whack. With Deng unable to go, Jimmy Butler will probably have to switch from Wade to LeBron. And then Marco Belinelli or Kirk Hinrich (if he is healthy), would have go up against Wade.

The Bulls are 8-8 against the Heat in the Big Three era, but just 1-4 in the playoffs.

Joakim Noah did not win Defensive Player of the Year. Marc Gasol did.

And deservedly so.

Gasol was fifth in the league in Defensive Rating and second overall in Defensive Win Shares. He averaged 1.7 blocks per game and 1.0 steals. Perhaps most importantly, the Memphis Grizzlies held opponents to 88.7 points per game, the lowest mark in the league.

The video doesn’t lie: this guy is an elite defender both in terms of individual defense and team defense. He absolutely anchors the Memphis defense.

Of course, all the same things can be said of Joakim Noah. Chicago’s Game 2 win over the Nets proved it beyond any shadow of a doubt. And back in January, Noah was certainly one of the leading candidates for this particular honor.

Unfortunately, Noah developed a case of plantar faciitis and started missing games, a total 16 in all. Typically speaking, players who miss chunks of the season due to injury don’t win NBA end-of-year awards.

Still, Noah made a good showing, receiving 13 first-place votes and earning a total of 107 points. He placed fourth behind Gasol (212), LeBron James (149) and Serge Ibaka (122).

Not bad company to be in all things considered.

The big man didn’t seem too broken up about not winning the award.

Said Noah: ”It’s all right. It’s not about that right now. It’s not about individual accolades or any of that. All my energy is on Game 3 right now. We put ourselves in a pretty good position. Now we’ve got home court. That’s what it’s all about. I’m not really worried about it.”

Did I mention Noah has also said he feels better and expects to play about as many minutes in Game 3 as he did in Game 2?

For what it’s worth, Luol Deng received a single first-place vote and Jimmy Butler got a second-place vote.

MVP (Most Valuable Player): No surprise here. It was LeBron James. He scored 24 points on 7-12 from the field, hit 9-12 free throws and added six assists and seven rebounds. Chris Andersen also played well, scoring a season-high 15 points and grabbing seven boards.

LVP (Least Valuable Player): Marco Belinelli managed to score just seven points on 2-9 from the field. He recorded a minus-22 rating in 30 minutes of action.

Defining Moment: In the fourth quarter, Carlos Boozer stole the ball from Chris Bosh to get a breakaway layup. On his way to the basket he looked over and saw LeBron James lurking. Instead of going up hard and using his body to shield his shot, Boozer went up soft and missed the layup.

And to add to that, every ABC replay seemed like a “how not to play defense” video starring Carlos Boozer.

X factor: Miami got to the line 41 times, and although they only hit 27 of those freebies (65.9 percent), it was still enough to outdo Chicago from the charity stripe (24-31). The Bulls also didn’t have a two-point field goal in the second half until 7:53 left in the fourth quarter.

That Was … another entertaining game: Once again the Bulls-Heat game was fun to watch. The big three played, and the Bulls kept it relatively close for most of the game. I don’t think a playoff series between these squads would go longer than five games, but it sure would be a heated battle.

The Bulls fall a full game back of Atlanta for the fifth spot with this loss to Miami.

Miami Heat Status Check:
Record: 63-16
Division: 14-1
Conference: 38-11
Home Record: 35-4
Last 10 Games: 8-2
Streak: Won 5
Last game: 109-101 win over Boston
PPG: 102.9 (5^th)
Opponents PPG: 95.1 (6^th)
Offensive Rating: 112.4 (2^nd)
Defensive Rating: 103.8 (9^th)
Pace: 90.6 (23^rd)
Effective Field Goal Percentage: .551 (1^st)
Turnover Percentage: .137 (13^th)
Defensive Rebound Percentage: .729 (24^th)
Offensive Rebound Percentage: .224 (26^th)
Free Throws Per Field Goal Attempt: .223 (6^th)
Opp. eFG%: .487 (9^th)
Opp. TO%: .149 (3^rd)
Opp. FT/FGA: .201 (14^th)
Leading scorer: LeBron James (26.8)

Stats from Basketball-Reference

Miami Injury Report:
Shane Battier: missed Friday’s game (rest)
Udonis Haslem: missed Friday’s game (ankle)

Overview:
Following a predictable, but still bad, loss the Bulls dropped to sixth place in the Eastern Conference, a half-game back of the Hawks. Chicago and Atlanta are tied in the loss column, while Atlanta has one more win than the Bulls. Chicago does own the tiebreaker, so if they win out, they would get the fifth spot in the playoffs. If the Bulls finish fifth, they would play the Nets in round one. If they finish sixth they would play the Pacers. The real difference is in round two, where everyone would like to avoid the Heat. The winner of the fourth seed vs. fifth seed series will advance to take on Miami. So falling to the sixth spot wouldn’t necessarily be the worst thing.

But the Bulls aren’t losing these games to the Raptors on purpose—although that would help me sleep at night. Anyway, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The Bulls have three games left, and positioning itself to avoid Miami would be weird, considering the Bulls are far from a guarantee to get past the first round.

Chicago has the chance to once against defeat that possible second round juggernaut when they meet the Heat. The last time these two squads met, the Bulls shocked everybody but themselves when they snapped Miami’s 27-game win streak in front of a very excited United Center crowd. If I had to guess, LeBron and company would like to squash the Bulls in this game and get a little bit of payback for the March 27 loss. But the Heat already have the best record in the league locked up, so maybe Chicago will luck out a little bit. Miami’s goal is to repeat and win a championship. Does beating the Bulls in a late regular season really help them get to that goal?

Everybody played for the Heat in its last contest, a 109-101 win over Boston; although the big three didn’t play full minutes. LeBron James (20 points, 9 assists) recorded 29 minutes, Chris Bosh (17 points, 7 rebounds) logged 25 minutes and Dwyane Wade (11 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists) totaled 34 minutes.

With what happened to Kobe Bryant, the Heat may rethink playing their top guys. Bryant and the Lakers were fighting for a playoff spot, and Kobe probably wouldn’t have gone out even if Mike D’Antoni tried. But Miami isn’t fighting for anything.

In all honesty, who knows which team the Bulls will play better against. As Chicago has displayed perfectly just this last week, they play down to lesser opponents and get up for better challenges. Two losses to the Raptors and a win over the streaking Knicks is the best summary of this Bulls’ season, and it happened in five days. So would the Bulls come out and play a stinker if they knew the big three were sitting out?

The thing that should be most important with three games left in the season is health. The Bulls already have a ton of guys that are injured, and those that are healthy are playing lots of minutes. Tired legs played a factor in the Raptors game, and the game against Miami is the first of a back-to-back that ends in Orlando. Five seed or six seed, if the Bulls can get through the final bit of the season without anyone else getting injured, and then have some of those players that are already injured return in the playoffs, they have a chance in round one.

There were so many compelling story lines in Chicago’s victory over the Heat the other night. There was Miami’s 27-game winning  streak. Thrilling dunks on both sides. Amazing steals. Ferocious rebounds. Spectacular plays.

It was gripping basketball. About as gripping as it gets in the regular season.

But oddly enough, the lingering discussion regarding this game is all about LeBron James’ assertion that he was victimized by hard fouls.

Said LeBron: “Let me calculate my thoughts real fast before I say [what I want to say]. I believe and I know that a lot of my fouls are not basketball plays. First of all, Kirk Hinrich in the first quarter basically grabbed me with two hands and brought me to the ground. The last one, Taj Gibson was able to collar me around my shoulder and bring me to the ground. Those are not defensive … those are not basketball plays.

“It’s been happening all year, and I’ve been able to keep my cool and try to tell Spo, ‘Let’s not worry about it too much.’ But it is getting to me a little bit because every time I try to defend myself, I got to face the consequences of a flagrant for me or a technical foul, whatever the case may be. It’s tough. It’s tough. It’s very tough, and I’m not sitting here crying about anything because I play the game at a high level. I play with a lot of aggression, and I understand that some of the plays are on the borderline of a basketball play or not, but sometimes you just got to … I don’t know. It’s frustrating.”

Kirk Hinrich’s response to his so-called tackle on Lebron was brief and to the point: “I was just hanging on for dear life and didn’t want to give up the and-one.”

For his part, Taj Gibson was somewhat taken aback by LeBron’s comments: “I think he’s too good of a player to do that. You just play, two teams really going out there and play hard, going to the basket extremely hard and physical. I didn’t try to collar him. I just fouled him. It wasn’t intentionally.

“I just tried to make a play on the ball, but I fouled him. When he fell, it looked like I collared him. I was really trying to grab him, just not hold him up. Nobody was intentionally trying to hurt anybody out there. When he said those comments, I was really shocked. But it’s part of the game, I guess.

“Carlos [Boozer] was getting hit the same way all night. We have to guard them and do our jobs. Me and Kirk, what he said about us, it was crazy. Kirk wrapped him up, first off. He was trying to make a play on the ball. He wrapped him up to not try to hurt him intentionally, so he won’t get an easy layup. He’s a dominant player. You just try to slow him down. We’re not trying to intentionally hurt him.”

Things didn’t stop there. They kept going. And took a turn for the weird.

Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge made the following comments on WEEI Radio: “I think the referees got the calls right. I don’t think it was a hard foul. I think the one involving LeBron against Carlos Boozer [in which LeBron lowered his shoulder into the Bulls’ forward 10 seconds after Gibson’s foul), that was flagrant. I think the officials got it right. I think that it’s almost embarrassing that LeBron would complain about officiating.”

This elicited a rather profane reply from Miami Heat president Pat Riley: ”Danny Ainge needs to shut the f— up and manage his own team. He was the biggest whiner going when he was playing and I know that because I coached against him.”

Naturally, Ainge had a quick response to this: ”I stand by what I said. That’s all. I don’t care about Pat Riley. He can say whatever he wants. … Pat Riley’s right. I should manage my own team. I complained a lot to the officials. And I’m right, LeBron should be embarrassed about how he complains about the calls he gets.”

Talk about drama.

Meanwhile on TrueHoop, Henry Abbott published an article called Tackle Basketball for the win in which he wrote:

Before the game, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau predicted a “cage match.”

Physicality, in other words, would be Chicago’s solution to Miami’s big, strong and super-quick LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, who tend to make layup after layup. Good, solid defense doesn’t cut it against those two. The recipe? When they get a step on their defenders, when layups and dunks look likely … tackle them, hit them, bring them down out of the sky. 

It started a few minutes into the game, when an eager Kirk Hinrich, despite having perfect defensive position, crashed into an open-court James rather than attempt to strip the ball, draw the charge or contest at the rim. Minutes later, Hinrich was directly in James’ path, in position to draw a charge or try to poke the ball away. His move? A bear hug that ended with his own head whacking the floor hard. 

Moments later, James was zeroing in on a reverse layup or dunk, and the Bulls’ Taj Gibson — in no position to touch the ball — swung hard and connected with his hand directly to James’ head. Instead of dunking, James ended up on the floor, checking his teeth. And that was just the first quarter. 

Why, again, is this fun to watch?

This post was followed by one about the origin of the “no layup” rule of the late 1980s and 1990s and how it is still allowed and rewarded in today’s game. After all, the Bulls used it to end Miami’s historic winning streak, didn’t they? Tackle basketball for the win, right?

I don’t know about all that.

For starters, I’m curious where all this outrage was when Dwayne Wade pulled Rajon Rondo to the ground and dislocated his elbow in the playoffs a couple years back. Or when he intentionally kicked Kevin Garnett during a layup attempt. Or when he broke Kobe Bryant’s nose at the All-Star Game. Or when he threw Rip Hamilton out of bounds. Or took another cheap shot at KG. Or tried to run through Paul Pierce. Or perpetrated a dangerous take down from behind on Maurice Evans during the playoffs. Or viciously and intentionally drilled Darren Collison from behind during another playoff game. Or kicked Ramon Sessions between the legs.

Why, again, is all that fun to watch?

But I digress. Let’s stick to this particular game.

According to Hoopdata, the Heat went 23-for-32 at the rim in their game against the Bulls. That’s a conversion rate of 71.9 percent.

So much for a no layup rule.

LeBron — whom we are being told was the hapless victim of something akin to Bill Laimbeer’s Combat Basketball — went 8-for-9 at the rim.

Dwayne Wade — who, according to Abbott’s post, “was sent sprawling to the floor spectacularly and regularly” by the Bulls — went 4-for-5 at the hoop.

Chris Bosh was 5-for-7 from point blank range.

For those of you who enjoy simple math, Miami’s big three were 17-for-21 on layups and dunks during a game in which they were apparently being tackled, hit and brought down out of the sky any time they attempted an attack on the basket.

Something doesn’t quite add up here.

If the Bulls were employing Tackle Basketball, how could Miami’s three primary offensive weapons end up with 17 conversions out of 21 attempts at the rim in a game with playoff-like intensity against one of the best defensive teams in the league? That makes the kind of sense that doesn’t.

Were there hard fouls?

No question about it. And the Bulls were penalized judiciously by the officiating crew. LeBron attempted a game-high 11 free throws. Wade came in second with seven foul shots. Bosh was tied with Jimmy Butler for third with five freebies.

What’s really strange about all this is that the most obviously intentional foul of the game — when LeBron rammed his shoulder into Boozer and then swung his elbow near Boozer’s face – did not even warrant a mention in any of the articles about the dangers of intentional fouls.

Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk provided some much needed perspective:

LeBron can be frustrated if he wants — the referees certainly let the game get more physical than most regular season games. And to my eye, if Gibson’s foul didn’t cross the line into flagrant neither did LeBron’s shoulder.

But he can’t have it both ways — he is often a “bully scorer” who simply overpowers opponents on his drives in the lane. LeBron can score a lot of ways but he isn’t afraid to use his physicality to his advantage. But that means he can’t then turn around and say “hey, they are being too physical with me.”

Compared to the 1980s this was not that physical, but the league has moved away from that model… at least until the playoffs start. Wednesday’s game in Chicago had the physicality of a playoff game, something LeBron should get used to.

LeBron initiated the contact with Hinrich, he tried to bully past him, Hinrich just wrapped him up. That was a basketball play to me. Gibson was on the bubble of flagrant, but LeBron lives in that zone.

Personally, I don’t believe there is a dangerous epidemic of intentional fouling going on in the NBA. Nor do I think the Bulls were channeling their inner Bill Laimbeer in that exciting win over the Heat. They committed a handful of hard fouls and were justly penalized for them. End of story. Anything else is just much ado about nothing.

Last night’s game had two possible outcomes for the Chicago Bulls: Either make history or become a footnote to it.

They made history.

Unless you just arrived on earth from another star system, you likely already know the Miami Heat entered this game having won 27 games in a row, which represents the second-longest winning streak in NBA history. Going in, some people felt that Miami’s streak was even more impressive and historically significant than the 33-game romp the Los Angeles Lakers went on during the 1971-72 season.

As Shannon Owens of the Orlando Sentinel put it: “Honestly, even if the Heat fail to break the Lakers’ record, this should still go down as the greater accomplishment. There is no comparison to the pressures today’s Heat team faces versus yesterday’s Lakers. ESPN and social media didn’t exist 41 years ago. And the quality of competition Miami is playing against is far superior.”

LeBron James himself said: “Back then, the leagues were separate. It wasn’t a full league at that time; the ABA and NBA leagues spread apart. So some of the greatest players weren’t even in the [NBA] at the time.”

I’m not so sure.

To me, this is a case of chronological snobbery, that wonderful little logical fallacy that something from an earlier time — be it thinking, art, science, or sport — is inherently inferior when compared to that of the present.

After all, while there are some factors (as noted above) that favor Miami’s 27-game streak, there are also a few that tilt in the favor of L.A.’s 33-gamer. For instance, the Heat live in an era of private jets, massage therapists and various other creature comforts that NBA players in the 1970s probably never even dreamed of. The 1971-72 Lakers had to take commercial flights, endure layovers and wash their own uniforms. Seriously.

And if you think today’s NBA schedule is unkind, talk to anybody who played back then. In those days, playing three nights in a row was accepted and standard practice. In fact, the 1971-72 Lakers played four sets of back-to-back-to-back games during their 33-game winning streak.

Then there’s the simple fact that Lakers great Elgin Baylor retired before L.A.’s winning streak began. Meanwhile, Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain were both still very good but also past their respective primes (Wilt retired in 1973 and the Logo called it quits in 1974). By contrast, the Heat have the world’s best player in his prime and at the absolute top of his game…not to mention two other top 10 players in their primes.

Finally, as ESPN’s Rick Reilly put it: “If the competition is so superior now, as James says it is, how come two of the three greatest streaks in league history have come in the past six years? Why are four of the top seven from 2000 and later?”

The reality is, there’s no need to demean what that Lakers team accomplished in order to promote what the Heat have been doing. Their streak is truly amazing on its own merits, regardless of comparative rankings.

During their 27-game run, the Heat beat good teams (Clippers, Grizzlies, Hawks, Knicks Pacers, Rockets, Thunder), bad teams (Bobcats, Cavaliers, Kings, Magic, Pistons, Raptors, Timberwolves) and everybody in between. They blew teams out. They came back from huge deficits.  They won 13 consecutive road games.

They didn’t lose. They just didn’t lose. For 27 games. Amazing.

Chicago’s season hasn’t been quite so sublime. It’s been plagued by injury, inconsistency and the mystery of when (or whether) Derrick Rose will ever come back from injury. There were rumors he would make his comeback against the Heat last night. Anyone who’s been following the Rose saga knew better. Rose and the Bulls are being as cautious with this situation as humanly possible. There was absolutely no way Derrick was going to make his long-awaited return in this meat grinder.

And man oh man this was a physical game.

During one first quarter drive to the hoop, James collided with Kirk Hinrich, who wrapped up LeBron’s arms to prevent the possibility of an “And-1″ opportunity and both players ended up on the hardwood. During the fourth quarter, LeBron was again fouled hard by Taj Gibson. Initially, the officials ruled it a Flagrant 1, but they downgraded it to a normal foul after a video review. Shortly thereafter, a frustrated James rammed into Carlos Boozer and whistled an elbow past Boozer’s face. It was a play that, had it been anybody other than LeBron James, likely would have earned an ejection. Instead, the refs called a Flagrant 1.

That’s the kind of game it was. Which had LeBron feeling a little indignant afterwards.

Said James: “Let me calculate my thoughts real fast before I say [what I want to say]. I believe and I know that a lot of my fouls are not basketball plays. First of all, Kirk Hinrich in the first quarter basically grabbed me with two hands and brought me to the ground. The last one, Taj Gibson was able to collar me around my shoulder and bring me to the ground. Those are not defensive … those are not basketball plays.

“It’s been happening all year, and I’ve been able to keep my cool and try to tell Spo, ‘Let’s not worry about it too much.’ But it is getting to me a little bit because every time I try to defend myself, I got to face the consequences of a flagrant for me or a technical foul, whatever the case may be. It’s tough. It’s tough. It’s very tough, and I’m not sitting here crying about anything because I play the game at a high level. I play with a lot of aggression, and I understand that some of the plays are on the borderline of a basketball play or not, but sometimes you just got to … I don’t know. It’s frustrating.”

I’m not sure I get the whole “every time I try to defend myself, I got to face the consequences of a flagrant for me” stuff. Swinging an elbow at Boozer, who was standing still and setting a pick, isn’t a case of LeBron defending himself. But whatever. Tempers flare. It happens.

Added Dwyane Wade: “I’m surprised he ain’t done it before. A big guy like that, you don’t really want to see him really start trying to inflict pain on other people. He plays the game the right way. It’s unfortunate. It’s tough but that’s why he is who he is. You have to deal with it. Tonight, he decided to get back a little bit. I didn’t think it was that bad.”

It’s not terribly surprising Wade didn’t think LeBron’s flagrant was that bad, given his own history of breaking noses, kicking opposing players between the legs, pulling people down, outright tackling guys and even throwing them (or their shoes) out of bounds.

Do superstars get hit? Yes. Do they hit back? Clearly.

David Stern has cleaned up the NBA quite a lot — just ask anybody who played in the late 80s and 90s — but basketball is still a contact sport.

The Bulls know this as well as anybody, which is why their locker room is like a M.A.S.H. ward.

Rose still has not returned after having his left knee surgically repaired. Chicago’s All-Star center, Joakim Noah, missed the game with plantar fasciitis. And the Bulls were missing both their starting and backup shooting guards, Rip Hamilton and Marco Belinelli.

Going in, the mere notion of this squad derailing the Miami freight train seemed ludicrous.

But it happened. How you ask?

ESPN Stats and Information provided the following three statistical reasons:

1. The Bulls allowed the Heat to get inside the paint but didn’t allow the Heat’s shooters to make easy baskets. The Heat went 10-of-39 outside the paint (25.6 percent), their second-worst such shooting rate of the season (they were 6-for-35, 17 percent against the Lakers on January 17).

The Bulls had similar success against the Heat earlier in the season. On Jan. 4, the Heat converted on 77.3 percent of field goals inside the paint but struggled on shots outside, hitting only 30 percent.

In the Heat’s victory over the Bulls, the Heat had a more balanced scoring attack, shooting 59 percent inside the paint and 44 percent outside it.

2. The Heat dominated the fourth quarter during their 27-game win streak, outscoring opponents by a combined 152 points and shooting 44 percent on 3-pointers.

In the loss to the Bulls, they shot 1-for-8 on 3-point attempts and were outrebounded by 12.

3. Despite scoring 32 points Wednesday against the Bulls, LeBron James was held to three assists, tied for his third fewest this season. James drove to the basket 12 times in half-court sets, but created only one field goal attempt (and no baskets) for a teammate off those drives.

Those are all legit reasons. But there were more.

For instance, there was how Luol Deng (28 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals) nearly played LeBron (32 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks, 3 assists) to a standstill.

There was Boozer matching Chris Bosh with 21 points and outrebounding him by an astounding 17-4. (This game may serve as something of a message to those who feel Boozer shrinks against the Heat or is a lesser player than Bosh.)

There was an inspired performance by Jimmy Butler (17 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and a spectacular one-handed alley-oop dunk over Chris Bosh).

There was little Nate Robinson for 14 points on 10 shots in 22 minutes…and nearly outscoring Miami’s reserves (17 points on 7-for-19 shooting) all by his lonesome.

And finally there was Kirk Hinrich. His stat line (7 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds) may look somewhat meager, but he made countless big plays, the biggest of which came with 2:41 left. The Bulls were clinging to a 91-85 lead when they forced James into a difficult step-back three-point attempt that was well off the mark. Bosh rebounded the ball, but Hinrich stripped him, took the ball the other way and eventually fed Gibson for an uncontested 16-footer that pushed Chicago’s lead to 9.

That wasn’t the only clutch play that helped the Bulls pull this one out.

With Chicago trying desperately to hold off Miami’s final attempt to rally, Robinson jacked up a three with 59 seconds left. Nate missed, but Boozer somehow fought his way to the offensive rebound and put it in the hoop to give the Bulls a 96-89 lead. Six seconds later, Deng stole the ball from LeBron. Then, after the Bulls had run the shot clock almost down to zero, Robinson swooped in for a driving layup to put the Bulls up 98-89 with 30 seconds left.

The Heat made a few exciting plays to make the final score a bit closer, but that was pretty much the ball game.

It wasn’t a pretty game, and it was far from perfect, as the Bulls gave up 24 points off 20 turnovers and got outscored 54-40 in the paint. But they did the dirty work, winning the rebounding battle 43-31 and doubling Miami’s Offensive Rebounding Percentage (32.4% to 16.2%).

And while James, Bosh and Wade (18 points, 7 rebounds, 4 steals) all had strong games, the Bulls managed to keep Miami’s role players in check. To wit: The “other guys” managed a total of only 26 points on 11-for-30 shooting.

And — my God! — were those the offensively challenged Chicago Bulls scoring at a rate of 108.1 points per 100 possessions (per Basketball-Reference)? Who knew?

But, as much as anything else, the Bulls showed their mental toughness and willingness to fight and scrap.

Especially Hinrich.

Said Gibson: ”Kirk is one of the toughest guys I know. He has so much swag every day in practice. He’s a real vet. He doesn’t shy away from anything. He’s always in the middle, especially against big men. He switches out on centers. He doesn’t really care. He’s one of those dog kind of players.”

That’s Hinrich’s way. And, really, the Bulls’ way. It has been under Tom Thibodeau anyway.

It’s amazing how fast things can change in the NBA. Yesterday, the Heat were pursuing the longest winning streak in North American professional sports history, and now that chance has passed. Maybe forever. And a few games ago, the Bulls were in the midst of their worst extended slump in years. Now they’ve won three games in a row and sit only 2.5 games behind the Brooklyn Nets for fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

Now there are 12 games left. Let’s see how the Bulls finish things off.

Extras:
Recap, Box Score, Advanced Box Score, Play-by-Play, Shot Chart.

Miami Heat Status Check:
Record: 56-14
Division: 12-1
Conference: 33-9
Road Record: 24-11
Last 10 Games: 10-0
Streak: Won 27
Last game: 108-94 win over Orlando
PPG: 103.5 (5^th)
Opponents PPG: 95.5 (7^th)
Offensive Rating: 112.7 (1^st)
Defensive Rating: 104.0 (9^th)
Pace: 90.8 (22^nd)
Effective Field Goal Percentage: .549 (1^st)
Turnover Percentage: .133 (8^th)
Defensive Rebound Percentage: .728 (21^st)
Offensive Rebound Percentage: .223 (26^th)
Free Throws Per Field Goal Attempt: .226 (5^th)
Opp. eFG%: .487 (9^th)
Opp. TO%: .148 (3^rd)
Opp. FT/FGA: .204 (16^th)
Leading scorer: LeBron James (26.7)

Stats from Basketball-Reference

Miami Injury Report:
Dwyane Wade: questionable (sore knee)

Overview:
Less than a year ago it was conceivable that the Bulls could beat the Heat in a playoff series. Chicago was the top seed in the Eastern Conference, despite a bunch of injured guys, with Miami in second. I wouldn’t have put money on the Bulls taking down Miami in a seven game battle, but I would have bet anything that it would be competitive and that Chicago would push the Heat to the brink.

Now, less than 12 months later, things have changed. Derrick Rose is still out, the Bulls have an almost entirely new bench and the Heat are playing out of their minds. Right now, the gap between the two teams is wider than LeBron’s headband.

Miami comes in on an absurd 27-game winning streak, the second longest in NBA history and six games away from tying the Lakers’ all-time mark of 33. The Bulls are on a two-game winning streak—just the second times they’ve won back-to-back games since the beginning of February.

While Miami’s superstar is playing at an all-time high and cruising to what should be another MVP, the Bulls are still awaiting the return of theirs.

All of this sounds like doom and gloom, but it may actually work out well for the Bulls. Miami has a tendency to come out of the gates slow. They’ve trailed four of their last last five opponents by double-digits and were tied with Orlando late in the third quarter.

The Bulls are a better team than any of those, and although they’ve blown leads of their own this season, if they can get on top of Miami their defense could carry them to a streak-ending victory.

All these things that are working against the Bulls—no Rose, the injuries—may end up working for them. This is Chicago’s championship. They always get up to play the Heat, whether it’s the regular season or playoffs. This hasn’t been “just another game” since Miami signed James, Wade and Bosh, even if the Bulls say it is. A game of this magnitude means more, and rightfully so.

But this meaning is more one-sided than it has ever been. When Rose was healthy, the Bulls were a threat to Miami. That meant the Heat wanted to crush the Bulls the same way the Bulls wanted to crush the Heat. That doesn’t seem to be the case now. Sans Rose, Chicago is just another stepping stone on the way to a spot in the Finals for Miami.

“We know that Chicago is going to be a tough game for us, and playing in that building,” LeBron James said. “We want to come out with our game plan … and give ourselves a chance to win.” Well the Bulls are just 19-16 in the United Center, and when the two teams met there in February, Chicago managed to score just 67 in a 19-point loss.

The Bulls shot 37.3 percent in that contest, compared to 50.7 for the Heat. Noah nearly had a triple-double, posting eleven points, eight rebounds and eight assists. But with the poor shooting and Chicago’s 27 turnovers, it wasn’t really close. That was Miami’s ninth straight win, which seems like forever ago.

The underdogs did get the better of the Heat when they met in Miami though, where the Bulls dominated the glass. Chicago grabbed 19 offensive rebounds to the Heat’s four and won the overall rebounding battle 48-28. Miami shot slightly better and had fewer turnovers, but that rebounding margin put the Bulls over the top, helping Chicago grab a 20-7 advantage in second chance points. An effort like that on the boards is how they are going to win this game. They scored just eleven second chance points when the two teams met in the United Center.

Chicago has enough trouble scoring, when going up against a good defense like Miami, the Bulls will need all the second chance points they can get.

The Bulls have against the Heat won without Rose before, this year and last year. But playing without Marco Belinelli (abdomen) and Noah (foot) would be an enormous hill to climb. With that said, John Lucas III scored 24 points in a game against Miami last season, leading the Bulls to a victory. So no matter what goes down tonight, crazier things have happened.

Miami Heat Status Check:
Record: 37-14
Division: 8-1
Conference: 17-9
Road Record: 14-11
Last 10 Games: 9-1
Streak: Won 8
Last game: 103-90 win over Atlanta
PPG: 103.2 (5^th)
Opponents PPG: 96.7 (12^th)
Offensive Rating: 12.3 (2^nd)
Defensive Rating: 105.2 (12^th)
Pace: 90.8 (21^st)
Effective Field Goal Percentage: .545 (1^st)
Turnover Percentage: .131 (6^th)
Defensive Rebound Percentage: .734 (17^th)
Offensive Rebound Percentage: .226 (27^th)
Free Throws Per Field Goal Attempt: .222 (8^th)
Opp. eFG%: .490 (13^th)
Opp. TO%: .145 (7^th)
Opp. FT/FGA: .216 (23^rd)
Leading scorer: LeBron James (27.2)

Stats from Basketball-Reference

Miami Injury Report:
Chris Andersen: left Wednesday’s game (sprained foot)
Mike Miller: missed Wednesday’s game (flu-like symptoms)

Overview:
After staying quiet through the trade deadline, Chicago moves ahead with the team they put together this summer, and remain eager for Derrick Rose’s return. That won’t be for a while, maybe not even this season, but playing with Rose is nothing new for Chicago. The Bulls looked good in their first game after the All-Star break, taking care of the Hornets, but now they get a real test: the hottest team in the league with the hottest player.

Miami comes into the game having won eight straight as LeBron James has found a new level of dominance. Over his last ten games, of which the Heat are 9-1, LeBron is averaging 30.0 points, on 64.5 percent shooting from the field and 51.4 percent from deep. He’s also adding 7.3 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 1.9 steals over that stretch.

On their eight game win streak, Miami is averaging 107.6 points per contest. The last time the Bulls scored 107 points in a game was a mid-January overtime win over the Raptors. Getting into a shoot-out with the Heat wouldn’t work for almost any team, but the Bulls know they need to win these games on the defensive end.

The Bulls get up for games against the Heat. They showed it last year in games that Rose missed with minor injuries and showed it once again when they met Miami in January. The Bulls have taken six of the last eight regular season games against Miami, holding the Heat to 91.0 points per contest.

Chicago gave up just 89 points to Miami in their first meeting this season, shutting down everybody except James (30 points) and Dwyane Wade (22 points). LeBron got to the line 16 times in that contest, hitting 13 of those freebies.

The clear match-up to watch is whoever is guarding LeBron at the moment. It will be Luol Deng for most of the game, and Jimmy Butler may get some time on him as well.

There is some good news for the Bulls. First of all, they get Miami on the road, where the Heat are just 14-11 on the year (compared to 23-3 at home). The second is that Miami is playing on the second night of a back-to-back. It’s not a big advantage, as Miami is 6-1 playing on no rest, but a somewhat tired Heat team is better than a rested one.

LeBron played 40 minutes last night in the win over Atlanta, scoring 24 points to go with eleven assists and four steals. That was his lowest output of the month and just the second time he has scored fewer than 30 points in February. Wade added 20 points in 35 minutes of action and Shane Battier and Ray Allen combined for 32 off the bench. Chris Bosh struggled, going just 2-10 from the floor in his first game since starting the All-Star game.

Kirk Hinrich is once again a game-time decision because of his elbow injury. Hinrich went 2-7 from the field for five points, but dished ten assists as the offense looked much better with him leading it. Nate Robinson came off the bench to score 13 points in the first match-up with Miami. Hinrich went 3-8 for ten points in that game.

Miami Heat Status Check:
Record: 22-8
Division: 5-1
Conference: 10-5
Home Record: 15-2
Last 10 Games: 8-2
Streak: Won 2
Last game: 119-109 OT win over Mavericks
PPG: 103.6  (4^th)
Opponents PPG: 98.6 (19^th)
Offensive Rating: 111.3 (3^rd)
Defensive Rating: 106.0 (18^th)
Pace: 92.1 (13^th)
Effective Field Goal Percentage: .547 (1^st)
Turnover Percentage: .136 (8^th)
Defensive Rebound Percentage: .733 (16^th)
Offensive Rebound Percentage: .213 (29^th)
Free Throws Per Field Goal Attempt: .223 (7^th)
Opp. eFG%: .492 (17^th)
Opp. TO%: .139 (10^th)
Opp. FT/FGA: .206 (15^th)
Leading scorer: LeBron James (26.5)

Stats from Basketball-Reference

Heat Injury Report:
LeBron James: probable (knee)

Overview:
Neither the Heat nor the Bulls have been playing their best basketball lately. The Bulls because they are missing Derrick Rose and apparently decided to take off the last week and a half of 2012 and the Heat because they know they can turn it on whenever they feel like.

That’s why the Bulls have a chance to beat Miami. Chicago beat the Heat last year behind 24 points from John Lucas III in one match-up. So whatever happens tonight, crazier things happened last season.

If the Bulls want to win they’re going to have to try and slow down the best basketball player in the world, who is also the most consistent scorer right now. LeBron James has scored 20 or more points in all 30 of his games this season. He is the first player to do that in more than 40 years (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did it in 1970-71 when he was still Lew Alcindor). Overall, he’s on a streak of 51 straight games hitting the 20 point mark that includes last season’s championship run in the playoffs.

But Miami isn’t at their peak right now. In their last four games, they are 2-2, with losses to Detroit and Milwaukee and overtime wins against Orlando and Dallas. The Heat are beatable when they are cruising through the regular season waiting to turn it on.

James was just one assist shy of a triple-double in Miami’s overtime win over the Mavericks. He finished with 32 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists. Dwyane Wade recorded 27 points and ten rebounds, while Bosh scored 17.

The Heat only turned the ball over ten times—James and Udonis Haslem combined for seven turnovers between them—and Dallas scored just 13 points off of them. Miami got 23 points off 14 Maverick turnovers.

This will be the first of four times this year the Bulls and Heat meet. Chicago went 2-2 against Miami last season. They were without Rose for two games, one being a four-point win, the other an eleven-point loss. They won another game which Rose was there physically, but not statistically. The point guard went a dismal 1-13 from the floor and recorded a negative-27 plus/minus. The bench stepped up massively in that game, helping Chicago pull out an overtime win. Rose’s best performance, a 34 point, six assist, six rebound game, ended as a four-point Chicago loss.

What that means is that the Bulls can beat the Heat without Rose. They didn’t depend on Rose for wins, getting a win without him and one when he was awful. And they lost in his best game. That should give them some confidence going into tonight.

That was last year though, and the Bulls had a much different bench at that point, that was consistently good and a lot better than Miami’s reserves, which were an after though. Now the Heat have Ray Allen coming off their bench. The former Celtic is averaging 11.6 points per game and hitting 45.6 percent of his threes. He’s daring people to double one of the Big Three.

The Bulls also need to rebound if they want to win this game, something they haven’t been doing well for a few games. But Miami is 29^th in offensive rebounding percentage and middle of the pack (16^th) in defensive rebounding percentage. If the Bulls can get second chance points and defend their glass, they will have a chance to knock off the Heat.

A big boost to their rebounding will be if Joakim Noah can play. Jo had no energy in the Bulls loss to the Bobcats, finishing with just two points and four rebounds, before sitting out the first game of 2013 with the flu. Jo has said he will play tonight. A game against the Heat isn’t the type of game Noah would want to miss. The Bulls could use Noah’s defense as well, as the Heat are the best in the league when it comes to effective field goal percentage (.547) and are third in offensive rating (111.3)

But if he can’t go, Taj Gibson filled in his role well, recording a season-high 21 points to go with eleven rebounds in the two-point win over the Magic. Carlos Boozer also stepped up, scoring 31 points, a season-high as well, on 13-22 shooting and adding eleven boards. Luol Deng pitched in 23, but that’s where the good news ends. The rest of the team scored just 21 points and shot 7-27 or 25.9 percent.

Kirk Hinrich, Rip Hamilton and Marco Belinelli are all going to have to pitch in double digit points if the Bulls are going to have a solid chance to win this game. Oh yeah, and they’ll need to try and slow down LeBron James. That’s the tough one.

The LeDecision has been LeMade: LeBron James will join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on the Miami Heat. The three guys who were probably (in some order or another) Chicago’s Plans A, B and C have joined forces to become The Super Friends of South Beach.

Ouch.

But you know what? It could be worse. A lot worse actually.

The New Jersey Nets won only 12 games last year, missed out on John Wall, and haven’t made a major acquisition this summer. The Nets going to win more than 12 games next season, but not enough to escape another NBA Draft lottery.

The New York Knicks — the first team to start clearing cap room, thereby kicking off LeBronmania — managed to overpay for Amar’e Stoudemire and trade for Anthony Randolph, Ronny Turiaf and Kelenna Azubuike. And that’s it so far. During the 2009-10 campaign, the Knicks set a franchise record with their ninth straight losing season. A tenth consecutive losing season isn’t out of the question.

The Los Angeles Clippers are, well, they’re still the Clippers.

And I believe Cavalier owner Dan Gilbert’s open letter to Cavs fansprovides some rather painful (if somewhat classless) insight into how Clevelanders are feeling today. After all, their hero is now fulfilling his dreams while crushing theirs.

So sure, the Heat hit the Jackpot at the expense of several teams, the Bulls included. But while the Cavaliers, Clippers, Knicks and Nets will probably be among the worst teams the in NBA, the Bulls should be one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference.

Think about it. The other teams — including the Heat, by the way — basically gutted their rosters and adopted a “Lose Today To Win Tomorrow” mentality for the mere hopeof signing either LeBron or one or two other headliners. That plan was an epic success for the Heat. Not so much for the other squads.

The Bulls, on the other hand, managed to keep a solid core of players in tact while clearing enough space to be in the hunt for a superduperstar. So even though it kind of stings to have missed out on the LeBron/Wade/Bosh sweepstakes…

…the Bulls are okay.

They still have an All-Star point guard in Derrick Rose. They managed to sign a former All-Star and proven 20-10 guy in Carlos Boozer without giving up a max deal. They have two players (Joakim Noah and Luol Deng) who can play reasonably close to an All-Star level (and Noah could go over the top this season). They have a young up-and-coming big man in Taj Gibson. And they still have roughly 18 million in cap space to spackle over the rest of their holes (namely at shooting guard and in the three-point shooting department).

Several teams went all in and came away with nothing or next to nothing. The Bulls somehow managed to go all in while keeping a big pile of chips stashed behind their backs. That’s kind of cool, isn’t it?

As it stands, the Bulls probably won’t be better than the Celtics, Heat or Magic. But they could be a solid fourth seed in their conference. It may feel like a booby prize to some people…but I bet fans in Cleveland, New Jersey and New York would swap places with Chicago fans in a heartbeat.

Let’s go ahead and forget all the LeBron/Wade/Bosh stuff and look forward to seeing how management fills the rest of the team’s needs. My hope was that the Bulls would get Mike Miller, but it looks like he’s going to Miami too (it figures). So who’s next on the short list?

According to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: “Sources said the Bulls also have targeted Ronnie Brewer, Keith Bogans and Roger Mason. Wesley Matthews, J.J. Redick and Anthony Morrow are restricted free agents, though the Bulls do have enough money for significant offers to give their current teams pause should they choose that route. Another intriguing possibility for backcourt depth is Peoria native Shaun Livingston.”

As they say on TV, stay tuned.