In their first of three-straight against one another, the Miami Heat secured a 116-113 win over the Chicago Bulls inside United Center.
It didn’t come without some late-game jitters. Ahead by 10 with 3:15 left, three-straight Ayo Dosumnu buckets quickly made it a one-possession game. Dosunmu made it a one-point game with 10 seconds left. But Miami didn’t flinch from the charity stripe and ultimately survived, courtesy of Coby White missing the game-tying 3-pointer as time expired.
Miami’s win elevates them to 26-23, while Chicago drops to 23-25.
Bam Adebayo had another very good all-around performance, scoring 20 points with a team-high 12 rebounds. Norman Powell had a team-high 21 points on 7-of-16 shooting, while Jaime Jaquez Jr. had 19 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals on 8-of-13 shooting.
Miami did have plenty of sloppy errors late. But it held Chicago to below 40.0 percent shooting from the game, including just 36.4 percent in the fourth quarter. Dosunmu’s 23 points led Chicago — with 15 of them coming in the final quarter alone. Matas Buzelis has 16 points and nine boards; Nikola Vucevic had a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double; Kevin Huerter had 15 points with four threes off the bench.
The biggest discrepancy came in points in the paint. After getting blitzed by the Orlando Magic the night before, Miami outscored Chicago 60-38 in the paint. including a 38-30 advantage at the rim.
The Heat’s ability to punish the Bulls, a bad defensive team with little size, in the paint over their next two matchups will be equally as key as it was tonight.
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charl just beat spurs there coming strong now.next year might be best team in our division
76ers’ George banned 25 games for taking ‘improper medication’
Wow
he was playing pretty good he’ll be back for playoffs.if embid is healthy they could be in ecf.
Dude has played over 60 games only once since 2018-2019. Kahwi Leonard isn’t any better. He’s played over 60 games only once since 2016-2017. Embiid is another one. He’s played over 60 games only twice since 2018-2019. Let’s not even get into Zion. None of them is normally available when the playoffs roll around, assuming their teams even make the playoffs. Sure glad Heat didn’t trade for any of them. Talk about exploiting the system for personal gain. They’ve been paid to the tune of well over a billion dollars between them…and counting, for what…one championship in 2019.
kawhi got toronto a chip.embd when healthy hasnt been that good in real season.zions never in playoffs
Exactly.
Norman Powell (personal reasons) out for Heat tomorrow vs. Bulls.
huwaaat?!! so they need to create separation early on and no let-up. its a b2b with the same opponent
we can beat the bulls now w/o giddy if giddy was playing and norm wasnt prob theyd win
Already without Tyler Herro, Heat also rules out Norman Powell on Saturday vs. Bulls Heat also likely will again be without Davion Mitchell on Saturday.no excuses for norm but he hasnt been himself lately jovic is healthy just suks90% of the time rc
Powell has been playing hurt. He needs the rest and therapy. I hope he gets selected as all star. He deserves it. What’s going on with his contract extension. He deserves that too. Time for the rest of the team to step it up.
yes deserves all star selection new contract and a new teammate from greece..how many of these u think happen sun?
2
no greek prob but they better resign him and he should be an all star
So hard to be patient. I will be hopeful till the deadline. If nothing happens, it will be greatly disappointing. I predict there will be heartache with the status quo. But, till then, nothing a fan can do but wait and think good thoughts., At least the deadline is finally almost here and we will know something soon.
im still going with the unpopular opinion. trust the godfather. even if he “fails” to get Giannis i believe this team will continue to compete w/c might look like mediocrity to some without a legit superstar. again its a waiting game. wake me up when February (5) ends.
Your upbeat cheerfulness is definitely a plus on these threads. It counterbalances my often dire projections. Hopefully there is always a place for everyone’s opinions here.
thanks. a lot of times i feel hopeless and want to strangle Pat also lol
wow join the club
I hear you 30. Riley is pretty good at playing things close to his vest. That’s OK if he comes up with trades that make Miami better than just a play-in team that gets swept in the first round.
This annual exercise in rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic is getting old. While Miami has been wallowing in mediocrity, several teams have been making significant improvements. Phoenix turned their ship around since the July 2025 trade of Durant with a ragtag group of players. Tonight they beat Cleveland 126-113, without Booker.
Miami finally gets a legitimate center and chooses to revert to “small ball” with marginal success. Maybe Ware should go to a rebuilding team that better appreciates his potential and is willing to play him more minutes in order to develop that potential.
I hope he doesn’t become shortsighted and desperate and give away the farm (best of the team’s young players and most of its future draft picks) pursuing his his own personal final shot at glory.
the bam ware failure which i said at beginning of year was the key to our success has really done us in.if your going to make bam the focal pt gotta do ware a favor and trade him.i pretty much know the level of all players minus kas but i have no clue if ware is closer to wemby or whiteside
Ware needs p/t to improve. The less he is used, the longer it will take for him to develop. Spo’s tough love approach may backfire on him as it did Kerr with Kusinga. Bad business calling out your players publicly. Spo should have learned that lesson by what happened after Riley called out the quitter.
Good comments. I don’t see any reason not to play them together. It just takes a little time and patience. Their skill sets are different enough that it seems clear that they would only enhance each other if they played enough. The lack of an adequate backup to spell their minutes is really the issue. And, there are times when Spo seems like he needs to put his stamp on things so much that he shoots himself in the foot. The term Sposcratchers really does sometimes apply. .
i have permanent scars from this guy.wife wants to know what there from.she doesnt know sports hard to explain 30
Again, I agree with you. I think they can be very effective together and I absolutely believe that Ware has All-Star potential.
jovics potential?
Rotation
PF if he matures and toughens up. End of bench if he doesn’t. He’s got until his extension kicks in next season to get there.
Spo really can’t argue spacing is the problem since both of them are shooting 3 pointers well. Bam is at 35.6% and Ware is at 42.2%. With players such as Powell, Larsson, Jaquez, Wiggins and Mitchell attacking the paint, Bam and Ware can hang out at the 3 point line all game or control the paint.
I hope so too but I doubt Riley will overpay. Riley’s problem in making deals is more the other side of the coin. He tries to underpay, often so much so that he alienates the other GM’s who seem to feel he can be disrespectful. A fair deal can also be helpful if the right assets are acquired and moved.
As for the overall direction, I think teams that are mediocre for several years, like the Heat, drive fans more crazy than any other situation. We are always going back and forth after an encouraging win or a disappointing loss. Maybe if we got just this one more player or maybe we really would be better off just starting over. It’s a bipolar team making bipolar fans. At least by the deadline we should have a sense of which direction we are going. Or will we?
Bipolar? I agree with you. I disagree with you. 😆
Roses are red, violets are blue, I’m bipolar and so am I.
Driving fans crazy and driving fans away. I guarantee you if Riley trades players like Ware and Jaquez away, some Heat fans are going to go with them.
Management of a professional sports team is not just about pretending to be competitive year after year. It’s also about giving your team and its fans a chance
to be something more than mediocre.
Riley has a lot more riding on this trade deadline than he realizes. A week from now this site is either going to be booming or it’s going to be a ghost town. Pat, you make the call.
I agree. If you make any move, at least you have hope and you’re looking at a different player or players. If you do nothing, it would be very disappointing.
cade and dunc what a winning combo ha ha fonzi
It’s working so I wouldn’t be so hard on Uncan. With Herro starting and Uncan backing him up, Pistons would be even better. I wonder if we can squeeze Stewart, a second player and a pick out of Detroit.
agree unc gets blown by just like here but with 4 athletes they cover for his ars
Same thing Herro needs.
true but dumbot had them playing together
giannis is the tyreek hill of bball there is not one guy that can stop him never seen that done
Massive 12-player trade idea sends Giannis to Miami, Kuminga to Milwaukee2026 January 30 12:08 (basketnews.com)
Golden State Warriors would receive:
Miami Heat would receive:
Milwaukee Bucks would receive:
This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever!!! That’s 6 players who were first round picks (if you include Kuminga), plus 4 first round picks for Giannis and a bunch of washed up players. FTS!!!
Better Option
Trade Wiggins and Smith for Kuminga, Hield and 2027 pick. Sign Powell to a three year extension, allow Fontecchio and Johnson contracts to expire, draft best possible player this year (and next year) and look for best possible trades this summer.
bucks dont want to be miami heat north.theyre in a total rebuild gonna want picks and maybe ware or jjj
And to dump their crap players on Heat
Best way to rebuild is with players on rookie contracts and draft picks. Herro, Ware, Jaquez, Larsson and Jakucionis plus 3-4 picks should do it. When you include Bucks’ existing personnel that’s a ready made rebuild. Meanwhile, Heat are left with great starters and a bunch of veterans minimum players and raw G Leaguers. What a waste of time and effort to develop players and then give them away.
4 vanillas hmm .not sure that would go over with their fans.to well
Maybe their fans aren’t obsessed about color like some here and are more concerned about quality. Herro, when healthy (not much historically, unfortunately), is a very good offensive player. Pelle and Jaquez are hard nosed, hard working players, with the latter in the running for mip and 6moy. Kas is, who knows?
Especially when you get veteran black scrubs in return. For the 100th time, Jaquez is mixed race, just like Booker and a large chunk of the best players in the NBA. He isn’t “white” because you hang a label on him. Stereotyping and racial profiling goes both ways.
The way I see it, that’s Herro, Ware and three other rotation players for Gianni’s and some washed up scrubs, regardless of race.
If all else fails, let’s bitch about race.
Like the yt scrubs Mia has, Herro pelle and jovic all scrubs who wouldn’t see many mins on any other team besides Mia. Neither of them start on okc, hou Den etc only would start on mediocre (Mia) and bottom feeding scrub teams Utah etc
What is Riley’s Plan B if Milwaukee chooses to hold off until summer to trade Giannis?
What is Riley’s Plan C if Giannis is traded elsewhere and Memphis/Morant get tired of waiting and he is traded elsewhere.
What’s going on with Wiggins? If Riley doesn’t trade or extend him, he may decide to opt out this summer and sign with another team…such as Golden State.
What’s going on with Powell? Is Riley going to trade or extend him? What happens if he fails to act and Powell decides to wait until his contract expires this summer and sign with another team?
If Riley trades Herro, Ware, Jaquez and who knows who to Milwaukee, what is the 2nd unit going to look like? (Smith, Jakucionis, Fontecchio, Johnson and Jovic? Where is the reliable scoring going to come from?
What is Riley doing to acquire another reliable big man (PF or combo PF/C) to rotate with Bam and Ware?
What is Riley doing to legally rectify the non-disclosure by Adam Silver/NBA and Charlotte Hornets of Rozier’s alleged criminal betting activity? If the NBA had already allegedly completed an investigation and cleared Rozier while there was still an ongoing FBI criminal investigation in process, why was that relevant information withheld from Miami by both Silver (on behalf of the NBA) and Charlotte?
If Riley addresses these issues and pulls a few rabbits out of his ***, he should be applauded. If he fails to do so he should be fired.
Note: The trade deadline is at 3:00 PM (ET) on February 5th, five days and 20 hours from now. I have a feeling its going to be a long weekend/week for the Godfather.
norm is hfl i am not normal.wiggy will be traded .morant will be a heater,greek gsw or minn.nobody wants herro.i can see derozan on team. gafford or nurkic coming here
very possible
would u give up jjj ware herro and 4 1st for athens
I know you would
herros a zero to get greek might have to part with where and jjj.wheres wasted here anyway rc.let him flourish somewhere.we still have dav norm bam greek wiggy. dru pelle keshad gardner goldin
Herro has had zero positive effect on the team this season, but he is a pretty gifted offensive player who does not give up more points than he gets, as I have shown. He obviously is a defensive liability though.
herro zero rhyme btw when herro is fresh hes as hard to guard as anybody in nba,eventually his fragile body gets worn down and hes injured or doesnt have much left playoff time.the way to use ty and get the most out of him is to limit his minutos
And Rozier -0
Gonna want more than that. Numbers are way off. Probably need to throw Rozier’s or Powell’s expiring contracts or Wiggins.
Wiggins needs an extension or he opts out. What about another 2 bigs? Who you bringing in, Embiid and Jovic?
jokic u mean not v.embids cooking now but its just matter of time for the injury.i mentioned guys like gafford nurkic.gotta look at the bad teams now with some excess vet bigs.i would give goldin boy a look but hes to big for eric
Injuries are what bothers me about Morant, Zion and a few others. Great ability doesn’t matter if availability is questionable.
id rather have zion for half the games than jovic for all the games correct?
Compare salaries then we can talk. I would rather have Luka than Keshad. But that’s just me.
Have you run the numbers or are you just prognosticating?
rcs the cap guy im in charge of getting the players.your job is closing the deal
Can’t close deals without the money to back it up. Money talks and bullshit walks. Been a whole lot of bullshitting going around here for several years.
If anyone hasn’t heard giannis has 3 teams as his destination raptors Knicks and the heat. Now why are the talking heads in the basketball world and media trying to push him to a team (warriors) with the oldest roster and less talent than Mia to offer? Quitter and kuminga plus picks
Miami definitely has the best package to offer out of those teams. Now it’s just a matter of getting it done!
i agree got nice warm weather also gotta finally land a whale/jimmy was a baby whale athens is a bout as big a whale u can land
I’d settle for a large shark at this point. I’m getting tired of tuna.
wants to play with steph .just like guys wanted to play with d wade
If he wanted to play with Steph why isn’t gs a destination of his? This is about the media pushing him towards gs
how do u know he doesnt want to play with steph
twolves also play with ant
Yes he does wanna play with ant, so wolves are the dark horse, they can probably give a better offer then us or the Knicks, but idk if they’re willing to go blow for blow. They would have to trade at least 3 of Rudy, Julius, naz,Jaden, and Divincenzo, idk if they’re willing to break that up.
Yup. I don’t think the Warriors have much of a chance unless they just need somebody to drive Steph to pick up his Social Security checks
lots picks rc
Yes
Hornets should do the Heat justice. Give them back that pick then Rozier for Kneuppel, Diabate, Miller. And the league should allow it even convince Cha org coz they both owe Arison, Riley and the whole Heat nation a restitution.
This was a play in preview, we may have beat them in battle, but the war isn’t over between us in the bulls.
I hope they will get another one of next two.
Nice game from Jamie tonight
Jaime (pronounced hy-meh) Jamie (jay-me) is the dude in Outlander.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
P.S. If Miami does make a significant trade, they better not include Jaime in the package. I don’t gaf who the Heat are trading for. He is the heart and soul of the second unit. 6moy.
Thanks for the correction.
And as far as a Giannis trade is concerned, I don’t think Jaime is a ‘throw-in’, I think he’s a Kel’el level prospect
jjj ware for greek?
Plus Herro, Wiggins, Rozier’s contract and all the picks. Wiggins then probably gets re-routed to another team (I”m guessing GSW) for a younger player (probably Kuminga) and another pick.
Between all the podcasts and articles I’ve been reading over the past couple days, that seems to be the offer. And I think it’s the best offer, unless OKC, Houston, or San Antonio get involved.
I guess I’m risk averse because my gut instinct is to scream.
So here goes positivity!
Bam, Giannis and Pelle would be a terror on defense.
Don’t forget about Davion as well on the D front.
I just can’t watch this team go .500 and get bounced in the first round anymore. I’d rather take a risk, and rebuild if it doesn’t work out, than keep doing whatever this is.
well said if greek doesnt work out here what are we losing
The Heat played well, got a nice win. Enjoy these next two nights because we have just as good a chance as tonite. These are the games we need to win, and we have the players to do it.
But, there are teams in the nba that will pose a much stiffer challenge. That’s when we will find out how far we can go.
I’m still hoping for buying activity over the next week.