Bulls Sweep Heat

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Apr 30, 2007 2:00PM

Chicagoist was pretty sure the Bulls could win their opening-round series against the Miami Heat — ESPN "experts" be damned. But even we didn't think the Bulls could actually sweep Miami.

But the young Bulls proved everybody wrong, closing out the series with their 92-79 victory on Sunday in Miami. The Heat put up a good fight for most of the game, leading much of the way until late in the third quarter. The Bulls out-hustled the Heat and proved they simply wanted it more, doing everything possible to close out the game and the series. Ben Wallace — a 41% free throw shooter — even hit a half-dozen consecutive free throws down the stretch!

The Bulls were in the situation to sweep the defending champs after winning the first two games of the series in Chicago, and then winning 104-96 in Miami on Friday — also a come-from-behind win.

Luol Deng led the Bulls' offense in the series by scoring 26.3 points/game, with Ben Gordon close behind at 25.5 points/game. Ben Wallace averaged less than 10 boards/game, yet the Bulls as a team outrebounded the Heat by over 10/game.

Next up for the Bulls are their old rivals, the Detroit Pistons, who also won their opening-round series with a 4-0 sweep. The two teams will have nearly a week to rest before that series opens next weekend.

Photo by AFP/Getty Images/Eliot J. Schechter.