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DeRozan spoils the start of the Heat season in FTX.
Chicago guard DeMar DeRozan shot everywhere you can think of on the court at the FTX
Arena in Miami, Florida. Corner three’s, at the elbow, the wing and knocking down jumpers with
multiple Heat defenders right in his face. The man could not be stopped Wednesday.
The Miami Heat lost to the Chicago Bulls in the Heats 35th season opener in franchise history
Wednesday, 116-108. Despite facing a short handed Bulls team that was missing All-Star guard
Zach LaVine and Lonzo Ball, Miami couldn’t corral the Bulls as DeRozan scored 28 of his 37
points in the second half alone.
The Heat to begin the year gave the starting nod to guard Tyler Herro, his 34th start in his four
year career. Throughout training camp prior to this season, Herro emphasized to the media on
his goal to not only become a routine starter on the roster, but to make the All Star team as well
this season. His campaign started on the right track.
Herro immediately became a focus for viewers watching the Heat going down the court on
offense. Within the first three minutes of play, Herro grabbed eight of Miami’s 10 points,
knocking down two pull-up 3-pointers from the wings and a driving floater to give Miami an early
10-4 lead.
The first quarter, being opened by Herro, gave the Heat momentum early toward a 21-12 lead,
the largest lead for the Heat throughout the night. Behind this lead also came the fast pace of
Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra as the Bulls couldn’t match the speed of the almost “bigless”
lineup. Including Heat forward Caleb Martin.
Replacing P.J. Tucker in the starting power forward position this year, Martin opened the court
for Miami efficiently as he went three for four in the first quarter. Unfortunately for the Heat's
front court, center Bam Adebayo didn’t keep up in the game as he went zero and five from the
floor early and ended the game with 12 points as he struggled offensively. Including missing an
easy put-in basket at the rim that was possible by guard Kyle Lowry running inside creating
havoc to open the opportunity for Bam.
At the end of the first quarter, Chicago woke up due to the combination of guards Ayo Dosunmu
and Colby White adding to a late run to close the quarter down 33-28.
In the second quarter, Heat fans saw their first sample of the two three point specialists of
Duncan Robinson and Max Strus as the two combined for three shots past 25 feet from the
basket.
The Bulls kept up with Miami’s pace throughout the quarter and tied the game before the half
with Dosunmu making two three’s before the half to tie it 59 a piece.
Even though the Heat controlled the lead for the majority of the first half, Chicago would flip the
script in the second half as they went on a 34-19 run, turning the tie into a double digit lead of
93-78 going into the fourth quarter behind 20 points by DeRozan.
As Miami pushed to regain the lead in the fourth quarter, Strus, who finished the game with 22
points and 77.4% from three off the bench, gave the Heat life with a few triples to put Miami
within a four point deficit behind Chicago, 102-98, with six minutes to go.
In those six minutes, the Bulls would outscore the Heat 15-11 and win the game 116-108.
“They did everything right. We didn't do too much right,” Heat forward Jimmy Butler said. “We
did a lot of things wrong. They pulled away and we couldn’t get the lead back.”
The Heat will stay in Miami as they await the Boston Celtics for a 7:30 p.m. matchup Friday at
FTX. The game will be the first nationally broadcasted game of the Heat season on ESPN.
Written by: Brandon Hernandez
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