The NBA drought is over. The Miami Heat hosted the Chicago Bulls yesterday. It was the season opener for the Heat and they were doused by the Bulls, 116-108.
Both teams were missing key players due to injury. The Bulls were without Lonzo Ball and Zach Lavine. The Heat sat Omer Yurtseven and Victor Oladipo.
The Bulls took advantage of poor Heat defense, particularly in the second half. DeMar DeRozan and the Bulls hustled and hit shots from all over the court. The Heat just couldn’t keep up.
Coach Erik Spoelstra said his team just didn’t handle business.
“Defensively we weren’t making multiple efforts,” he said. “And then DeRozan got fully into his comfort zone. When dealing with great offensive players there’s going to be those extra efforts on top of that just to get him out of his sweet spot.”
The Heat’s next matchup is Friday, Oct. 21, against the Eastern Conference champs, the Boston Celtics at 7:30 p.m. at the FTX Arena.