Bulls Edge Heat, 96-86: C.J. Watson Hits Key 3 To Force Overtime (VIDEO)

C.J. Watson #7 and Loul Deng #9 of the Chicago Bulls celebrate against the Miami Heat on April 12, 2012.

CHICAGO — C.J. Watson scored 16 points, including the game-tying 3-pointer at the end of regulation, and the Chicago Bulls pulled away in overtime to beat the Miami Heat 96-86 on Thursday night.

Carlos Boozer led the Bulls with 19 points and Kyle Korver added 17 points for the Bulls, who outscored Miami 12-2 in overtime to boost their lead in the Eastern Conference to four games.

The Bulls were able to pull off the victory despite a horrible shooting night by Derrick Rose.

LeBron James scored 30 points for Miami, but missed a free throw that would have made it a two-possession game late in regulation. Dwyane Wade added 21 points, Chris Bosh scored 20, but the Heat lost for the sixth time in 11 games.

Things were looking good for Miami when James nailed a 3 that made it 83-81 with 49 seconds left in regulation. But with a chance to seal the game, he missed the first of two free throws with 11.4 seconds remaining.

That kept the Bulls in it and Watson made a 3 to tie it at 84 with 2.2 seconds left. The game went into overtime when Wade missed a baseline jumper at the buzzer.

Deng started the extra period with a jumper. Taj Gibson dunked on Ronny Turiaf for a three-point play and scored on a neat spin move after Wade hit a free throw, making it 91-85, sending the Bulls to a dramatic win on a night when their superstar had perhaps his worst game as a pro.

Rose scored just two points and hit 1 of 13 shots, a brutal night for the reigning MVP. Then again, he hasn't played much lately.

He returned from a 12-game absence due to a groin injury for Sunday's overtime loss at New York, only to sprain his right ankle. He did not play Tuesday, when the Bulls beat the Knicks at home.

But even with Rose struggling, the Bulls managed to pull this one out.

Korver, who scored 14 on Tuesday, again came up big, particularly down the stretch.

His 3-pointer and jumper put Chicago ahead 78-74 with about 3:30 left, and after Wade scored, Boozer nailed a jumper and Ronnie Brewer hit a free throw to put the Bulls' lead at 5.

Wade, however, kept Miami in it.

He scored on a drive and a jumper to make it a one-point game, and Bosh came up with a key rebound off a miss by Wade, feeding James for the 3 that made it 83-81. But things unraveled for the Heat after that.

Notes: Wade tied Alonzo Mourning's franchise record for games played at 593. ... Heat coach Erik Spoelstra made a late switch and decided to have Udonis Haslem, battling stomach flu, start at center instead of Ronny Turiaf. ... The Bulls and Heat meet one more time at Miami on April 19.

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Comments

[Rapper14]

10:23 AM on 04/16/2012

that was a good game againt the bulls vs heat i mean they kept on tieing it up and i mean i just couldn't keep up with the score but i am glad that the bulls pull it off though feel sorry who ever beted there money on miami heat and feel sorry for who is a miami heat fan but they still were good though keepin up with chicago bulls

[wwhitfie81]

03:26 PM on 04/13/2012

Bench Squad. I've never seen a bench play like starters before. Da Bulls!

[mynamesyow]

02:27 PM on 04/13/2012

Best Record in the League. Best Coaching, Best Rebounding, Best assists, And the Best Bench who proved it by beating the Heat AGAIN w/out D-Rose...
Rest up for the playoffs boys, w a 4 game lead and a rotation of 9 or 10 solid starters...its gonna be a fun playoff run!

go Bulls!

[Canliberalwoman]

12:52 PM on 04/13/2012

My babies won!! Man the playoffs are going to be fun!!!

[DaBUU]

12:21 PM on 04/13/2012

Man that was a fun game, even with D on the bench. I know this isnt the Heat team we'll face in the ECF, but it's also not the same team they will face either. Still love our size, depth, and defense against them, not to mention we have the greatest coach in the game they leaves no stone unturned. GO BULLS!

[Minnehaha]

11:53 AM on 04/13/2012

Great game, GO BULLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[LogicalMathMan]

11:35 AM on 04/13/2012

LeBron was screaming at players during the OT and after that loss. Had LeBron made that final free throw, C. J. Watson's 16 points would've been academic.

I said this from Day 1 of the Big 3 coming together: If the 3 score 80 points a game, who among the rest are going to pick up the slack? The Heat have a serious issue at center. Bosh is a power forward and Ronnie Turiaf is a starter....wow!

[splinky]

01:17 PM on 04/13/2012

I've been saying that, too.

I don't really feel like going over every roster in the league, but I think I can confidently say that if you had a tournament of every team with their top three guys missing, Miami would come in close to last. Has any team with no point guard, no center, lousy defense against the three point point shot and a weak bench ever won a championship? It's kind of a miracle they've done as well as they have.

Now that the frustration is setting in, they don't even look as good to me as they did last year.

[PalaceOfWisdom]

11:32 AM on 04/13/2012

From the way Magic and Bird are laughing in the above screenshot, I'm guessing someone just said LeBron is a clutch player.

[frank day]

11:16 AM on 04/13/2012

It's probably best for the Heat for 1st to be out of reach.

They need to start resting people for a playoff run.

I still think the Bulls are the East favorites.

In the West, I can make good arguments for LA, San Antonio, or OkCity.

[ChriztDizciple]

11:15 AM on 04/13/2012

It's still all about MIAMI!!!

[mynamesyow]

02:29 PM on 04/13/2012

True,

all about how a team playing their BENCH can give a SOLID beat down to a team w 3 guys making over 300,000,000.00 combined...

Team > 3 Players anyday

[dvglass3]

04:11 PM on 04/13/2012

Oh, come on...a solid beat down????? That didn't happen but what did happen is we can all now say, without any doubt, the Bulls are the team to beat in the East.

[jbad]

10:48 AM on 04/13/2012

The Bulls bench outscored the Heats by 48 points to 8 pts. Looks like a balanced team not dependant on one player.

[ScientistfromtheHood]

10:32 AM on 04/13/2012

Fools gold. Can the second unit do this in the playoffs? If the Bulls are going to have any chance at this, then they need to get Rose back to 100%. Even then, their going to have problems because of Deng's and Hamilton's injuries.

[Abdul Karim Ahmed]

10:38 AM on 04/13/2012

Yep they can. Miami is just the little three. And nothing more.

[lurkinman]

11:27 AM on 04/13/2012

They 45-14 with mostly this crew.

Rose will be back, Deng is the 2nd highest scorer on the team and has played 50 games and doing fine now.

Championship teams don't get their butts handed to them in an overtime period by your opponents bench. This is the 2nd time the Bulls bench has beaten the heat.

[lurkinman]

10:30 AM on 04/13/2012

What were the Heat doing in that overtime period, besides running up and down the court while the Bulls BENCH was killing them? 12-2?

[mynamesyow]

02:31 PM on 04/13/2012

True Story.

[Nishima Auluck]

05:00 AM on 04/13/2012

Inside Trax : Bulls VS Heat! http://liveoncampus.com/wire/show/3366092

[dvglass3]

04:14 PM on 04/13/2012

Spam????? Really?

[kaspian808]

03:27 AM on 04/13/2012

The Bulls still lack the offensive firepower needed to contend. Even if they're fortunate enough to survive the East, they would be overpowered by any number of teams in the West.

[tanya11111]

08:48 AM on 04/13/2012

true story!

[JacksonHts]

09:13 AM on 04/13/2012

They have been contending for two years now. Let them play the games, see who overwhelms who.

[Puzzlr]

09:51 AM on 04/13/2012

Well, they lost to my Houston Rockets the other day and sadly, we won't be contending for the title this year. Sure, we'll get into the playoffs, but we probably won't last long.