Miami Heat unable to sustain lead in loss to Chicago Bulls

CHICAGO — Even with a breezy start Saturday night, there still was no easy button for the Miami Heat.

So from a 22-1 lead at the outset against the Chicago Bulls there eventually was a scramble to the finish.

And now there no longer is a winning streak for Erik Spoelstra’s team.

For a team that entered on a seven-game winning streak without a single double-digit victory this season, even the best of times had been some of the most grueling times.

The start of this five-game trip was no different, even with a double-digit lead midway through the fourth quarter and eventually a 102-97 loss, the Bulls never leading until the final minute.

“I felt like we got in a daze, a fog, and we lost the game,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said.

Next up, a rerun, when the teams meet Monday night back at the United Center.

Jimmy Butler led the Heat with 25 points, Adebayo adding 24 points and 10 rebounds.

“We let it get easy for them,” Butler said. “We let one get away.”

DeMar DeRozan led Chicago with 23 points, his 18-foot jumper over Heat rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. with 21.9 seconds to play putting the Bulls ahead for good.

“Talk about a welcome-to-the-NBA moment,” Jaquez said. “Tonight was one of those.”

Five Degrees of Heat from Saturday night’s game:

1. Closing time: The Heat led 22-1 at the outset and 26-14 at the close of the first quarter. Chicago then closed within two in the second period, before the Heat pushed back to a 50-40 halftime lead. The Bulls had scored 33 first-half points in each of their previous two games, home losses to the Orlando Magic.

The Heat then went up 14 in the third, with a 76-68 lead going into the fourth.

From there, the Heat extended to a 85-75 lead with 7:45 to play.

But that also is when it effectively stalled, save for late 3-pointers by Butler and Duncan Robindon, who added 17 points for the Heat.

“They outplayed us down the stretch,” Spoelstra said. “When you get up double digits, we had a few of those opportunities in the second half to extend that lead.”

2. Adebayo again: While the matchup against Bulls center Nikola Vucevic has historically been a tough proposition for the Heat, Adebayo this time seized control in the middle.

Adebayo was up to 18 points at halftime, on 5 of 6 from the field and 8 of 8 from the line. At one point, Adebayo had six rebounds to one for Vucevic.

Adebayo closed  8 of 12 from the field, 8 of 8 from the line.

But those numbers stood secondary.

“They made shots down the stretch and we did,” Adebayo said, scoreless in his 12 fourth-quarter minutes.

Vucevic closed with 15 points, eight rebounds.

3. Butler, too: While the two-man game isn’t necessarily the Heat’s game of choice, with the bench particularly uneven, Butler also stepped up his game.

He was up to 18 points entering the fourth quarter, coming off 32- and 36-point games in victories, respectively, over the Charlotte Hornets and Brooklyn Nets.

Butler opened the scoring with a 3-pointer, extending his streak to a career-best seven consecutive games with a conversion.

He closed 8 of 16 from the field and 7 of 7 from the line, scoring seven in the fourth.

“We didn’t get any stops at the end,” Butler said, with the Heat outscored 34-21 in the fourth.

4. Early Blitz: It was yet another shaky start for the Bulls, the Heat bursting to that 22-1 lead.

Entering the game, Bulls coach Billy Donovan said, “Either you’re going to come out to the ring like Mike Tyson or you’re going to come just kind of bobbing and weaving. And we’ve got to come out that way (like Tyson). We have to come out that way. And we have to be able to sustain it.”

Didn’t happen.

The Heat opened 9 of 11 from the field, the Bulls 0 for 11 with four turnovers.

Worse, the Bulls used their coach’s challenge with 5:48 to play in the opening period to try to overturn a charge drawn by Kyle Lowry. The challenge was unsuccessful.

The Bulls’ first basket finally came on a driving layup by Zach LaVine 7:12 into the game.

Even with the comeback, LaVine was cautious postgame.

“I’m happy we got a win,” he said. “We play these guys in a couple days. You don’t want to sit around and celebrate.

5. Do it again: The game was the first of six times the Heat this season will face the same team in consecutive games and the first of two times it will happen on the road (also March 15 and March 17 against the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena).

The Heat also have three such pairings at home, including Dec. 14 and Dec. 16 against the Bulls at Kaseya Center, as well as the Charlotte Hornets on the road and then at home next month.