Mateo’s Hoop Diary: The Heat beat the Bulls in the Play-In Tournament and advance to round one vs. Celtics

The undermanned crew held off the Bulls in the Play-In Tournament to advance to the first round against the 64-win Celtics. The high Heatles were Tyler Herro and Jaime Jaquez Jr..

The Heat was absent Jimmy Butler (knee) and Terry Rozier (kneck).

Two nights earlier, the team laid a second-half egg vs. the 76ers that would have made its Playoff road much easier.

But on Friday, the Heat played unlike themselves, racing down the floor and snatching control of the first quarter on a 19-0 run supplied by Herro, Bam Adebayo, Nikola Jović, JJJ and Haywood Highsmith.

Defensively, the squad permitted six of 23 baskets in the first frame.

Then DeMar DeRozan scored a dozen points in the second quarter, pivoting past multiple defenders for a layup, dribbling through protections in transition and nailing a tray. He also blocked Herro’s floater from behind when defending a pick-and-roll set.

Coby White scored the two remaining Chicago field goals in the second in six tries. The rest of the visitors were stifled to a fruitless nine ventures.

Naturally, the Heat’s offense sunk in frame two as well, producing 13 points on 25% accuracy.

At halftime, the Heat was ahead, 47-37. The hosts also had 18 paint points, 10 on the break, six via second chances, six after turnovers and 15 from the bench.

The Bulls accumulated 10 interior points, two in the open court, four on extra tries, six after turnovers and four from the reserves.

Next, Herro came out of the break blazing for 12 points, hitting a fadeaway over Alex Caruso on the baseline, attacking the rim on a PnR play with Adebayo, splashing a transition trifecta and downing freebies. On top of that, JJJ cut from the left wing to the paint twice for dunks, and Kevin Love’s activity at close range against mismatches resulted in six filed free throws.

On the other side, Nikola Vucevic countered with a basket in the post and a pair of threes. And Ayo Dosunmu dribbled past Herro from the wing to the cup for a layup and made a corner triple.

Afterward, the Heat entered the fourth quarter up 82-60. The crew shut down Dosunmu by closing out on time to his attempted deep jumpers but allowed the rest of the Bulls 13 of 24 buckets.

Yet it didn’t count for much. The Heat’s advantage bloated to 29 points midway through the period as Love attacked Caruso in the post and swished a corner banger, plus JJJ and Herro feasted from short and long distance.

The Heat won 112-91, ending the Bulls’ season for the second straight year. The squad picked up nine more rebounds and logged 36 paint points, 20 on the break, 14 via second chances, 17 after turnovers and 42 from the bench.

Herro tallied 24 points on eight of 17 attempts, with 10 rebounds, nine assists and five turnovers. Jaquez had 21 on his scoring ledger on 50% accuracy, with five rebounds and six dimes. Kevin Love put up 16 points on two of six looks and picked up seven rebounds. And Adebayo had 13 points, four rebounds and four assists.

The Bulls had 36 interior points, seven in the open court, 11 on extra tries, 11 after turnovers and 24 from the reserves.

DeRozan notched 22 points on eight of 16 tries, with three rebounds, four assists, one steal and a block. Vucevic scored 16 points on 41.2% shooting, with 14 rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block. And White had 13 points on 31.6% accuracy and recovered two rebounds and four assists.

Herro handled the on-court interview. He said, “I tried to be as much as I could of Jimmy [Butler] tonight, just trying to make the right play, get my guys shots and not force anything.”

Regarding the Celtics matchup in round one, Adebayo said, “It’s gonna be in the mud; it’s not gonna be pretty basketball.”

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