NBA: Heat smash Bulls to win rare regular-season 3-game series

MIAMI – Bam Adebayo and Pelle Larsson each scored 20 points as the host Miami Heat dominated the Chicago Bulls 134-91 on Sunday night.

The Heat never trailed and secured a 3-1 sweep in the season series, at one point leading by as many as 54 points.

Miami point guard Davion Mitchell, returning from a shoulder injury, added 13 points and six assists. The Heat’s win came despite missing two starters, Tyler Herro (ribs) and Norman Powell (personal reasons). Powell, 32, was named an NBA All-Star for the first time on Sunday.

For Chicago, Coby White led with 16 points. Two Bulls starters returned to the lineup: Nikola Vucevic, who sat out Saturday’s game for rest, scored 12 points, while White came back from a calf injury. The Bulls were still without Josh Giddey (hamstring), Zach Collins (toe), Jalen Smith (calf), and Tre Jones (hamstring).

This marked the third matchup between these teams in four days, the first time in 54 years that two NBA teams played three straight regular-season games against each other.

Miami got off to an 8-0 start, followed by a 14-0 run, and led 34-13 at the end of the first quarter. Larsson led all scorers in the opening period with 13 points, marking the highest-scoring quarter of his brief NBA career. Miami shot 50% in the quarter, while Chicago managed just 20%, hitting only 1 of 12 from beyond the arc.

In the second quarter, Adebayo scored 12 points as Miami extended its lead to 62-40 at halftime. Chicago again struggled offensively, shooting 32% overall and 1-for-9 from three-point range.

Miami pushed the advantage to 101-62 by the end of the third quarter and maintained control in the fourth.

For the game, Miami outscored Chicago in the paint 72-44 and shot 50.5% overall, making 14 of 38 three-pointers (36.8%). The Bulls finished at 32.2% from the floor and 6-for-41 from deep (14.6%).

-Field Level Media/Reuters