Heat eliminate Bulls 102-91, will face Bucks in Round 1

MIAMI (AP) —Max Strus had another 3-pointer taken away in an elimination game.He and Jimmy Butler made sure it didn’t matter.

The playoffsawait.

Strus andButler — who was doubled over at times in the final moments,heaving for every breath — scored 31 points apiece, and the MiamiHeat closed the game on a 15-1 run to beat the Chicago Bulls 102-91in an Eastern Conference play-in game Friday night.

“Our team hasobviously not been perfect this year,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstrasaid. “But I do know one thing about the men in that locker room:The last 48 hours, I know how categorically, unequivocally, howbadly and desperately our group wanted to get into this damn thing— and get into the playoffs to have an opportunity to compete for atitle.”

Their reward:the No. 8 seed in the East and a first-round matchup with theMilwaukee Bucks, the NBA’s top overall seed, starting Sunday.

DeMar DeRozanled the Bulls with 26 points and nine assists. Alex Caruso added 16points, Zach Lavine had 15 but shot just 6 for 20, and Coby Whitescored 14. Chicago got a road win at Toronto on Wednesday to extendits season, but couldn’t get the second road victory it needed tomake the playoffs.

“They’redisappointed,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. “When you make thatinvestment from September to the middle of April, that’s a lot oftime. You reflect back a little bit. I think they’re alldisappointed. We were getting better as a group, I think, since theAll-Star break. It would have been nice if we found a way to wintonight and continue on to the playoffs, but it didn’t happen.”

Tyler Herroadded 12 points and Bam Adebayo grabbed 17 rebounds for Miami,which trailed by six midway through the final quarter.

But Butlerscored while getting fouled with 2:17 left to put Miami ahead forgood, found Strus for a 3-pointer — his seventh of the night — aminute later to push the lead to five, and Strus sealed it withthree free throws after getting fouled on a try from beyond the arcwith 40 seconds remaining.

“I don’tthink any of us felt any type of pressure,” Butler said. “We wentout, we competed.”

The Heat ledby 14 in the first quarter, held as much as a 10-point lead in thethird quarter, then found themselves down by six with 7:12remaining.

A 9-3 spurtover the next 2 minutes — Butler had seven, Strus had the other two— pulled the Heat into a tie, and into all-too-familiar territory.The NBA defines clutch games as those that are within five pointsor less in the final 5 minutes, and the Heat played a league-high54 of them during the regular season.

Maybe itprepared them for this moment. White made a 3-pointer with 3:47left to put the Bulls up 90-87. The score the rest of the way: Heat15, Bulls 1.

“Win or gohome,” said Strus, an Illinois native who started his career withthe Bulls. “We’re not done yet.”

TIP-INS

Bulls:Chicago was a combined 13-1 this season against Miami, Detroit,Portland, Utah and Dallas. … The Bulls didn’t trail Miami by morethan nine in any of the three regular-season matchups between theteams. ... Nikola Vucevic had 12 points.

Heat: Strushad 14 points in the first quarter, matching the seventh-bestscoring effort in any quarter of his career. … This was the 21stHeat team to finish a regular season with a winning record; theywere 44-38. All 21 have made the playoffs. ... Kyle Lowry waslimited in the second half with a knee issue, but told Spoelstrapostgame that he was fine.

LOOKINGAHEAD

The Heat andBucks split four meetings this season, both going 2-0 at home.Butler averaged 22 points per game to lead all players in theseason series. Adebayo and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo bothaveraged 19.5, and Herro averaged 19.

BILLY ANDUDONIS

It was thefinal time Donovan will share a court with one of his collegeplayers at Florida, Heat captain Udonis Haslem, who will retirewhen this Miami season ends. All of Haslem’s NBA and collegecoaches were at the game, with Erik Spoelstra on the Heat sideline,Pat Riley in the Heat president’s box, Stan Van Gundy broadcastingfor TNT and Donovan leading the Bulls.

“I’m notsurprised about the impact he’s had on the community here and I’mnot surprised about the impact he’s had inside the organization,”Donovan said. He also lauded Haslem for prioritizing winning andnever leaving the Heat even though he had offers elsewhere “for alot more money.”

UP NEXT

Bulls: Seasoncomplete.

Heat: VisitMilwaukee in Game 1 on Sunday.