The Chicago Bulls defeated the Miami Heat 87-86 Sunday at AmericanAirlines Arena, completing a sweep of the season series. The Bulls rallied from a 12-point, first-half deficit behind the play of guard Derrick Rose and Luol Deng. Rose led all scorers with 27 points, continuing to make a case for the league's MVP award. Deng finished with 18 points, including the winning free throws in the closing seconds. The Heat had a chance for the win, but LeBron James missed a driving layup. Heat guard Dwyane Wade, who grabbed the rebound, then missed a jumper from the corner as time expired.
James led the Heat with 26 points.
"I thought we hung tough. A lot of things didn't go our way in the first half, but we came back, got aggressive and we fought our way back into it. It wasn't pretty but we got the win." -- Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau.
Meanwhile, the Lakers made a statement with a big win snapping San Antonio’s 22 game home winning streak. Kobe scored 26 and Pau 21 as the Lakers rushed out of the blocks with a 21-point early lead and never let go of it. Elsewhere, the Knicks beat Atlanta and OKC had the better of Phoenix.