No NBA team tightens the defensive screws like the Bulls.
The defending champs limited the Miami Heat to 11 fourth-quarter points Tuesday night at the United Center to engineer an 84-77 comeback victory in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Miami sharpshooter Tim Hardaway was limited to 13 points.
“Ron Harper did a great job on Hardaway and the defense tonight played extremely well,” Bulls coach Phil Jackson said.
After trailing 49-38 at the half, the Bulls outscored Miami 46-28 after the break.
“The first half was probably a little difficult for us,” Jackson said. “I thought in the second half we came back with better energy. We said at halftime we would have to outdefend them, and that’s basically what we did. We started taking away some of their shots, taking away some of the easier baskets they got in the first half in transition. And our defense came up with some loose balls and some steals.”
The Bulls’ defense compensated for a horrendous shooting night from the field. The Bulls converted only 32 of 89 shots from the floor (36 percent). Miami was 26 of 64 (40.6 percent), but only 6 for 22 in the second half.
“Our defense . . . we had a good feel for when they were running. In the second half, we eliminated a lot of those mistakes,” Michael Jordan said after scoring a game-high 37 points.
Overall, the Bulls own a 5-1 record in the first game of the Eastern Conference finals since 1990, winning four of the last six. Last season the Bulls won the opener (121-83) and went on to sweep Orlando. The last time the Bulls lost the first game of the Eastern Conference finals was to New York on May 23, 1993 (98-90). Those Knicks won the first two games of the series, but dropped four straight to the Bulls, who advanced to the NBA Finals, winning their third straight championship.
“Our fatigue had nothing to do with their pressure,” said Heat coach Pat Riley, whose team just completed a tough seven-game series with the New York Knicks on Sunday.
In the Eastern Conference semifinals, the Bulls’ bench outscored the Atlanta Hawks’ bench in four of the five games, and matched it the other time. But the Bulls’ bench came up short Tuesday night, being outscored 18-6. Steve Kerr (two points), Toni Kukoc (2) and Brian Williams (2) managed only six points total. During the regular season, the Bulls’ bench outscored the opponent’s bench in 56 of 82 games. In five of the last eight games, the Bulls’ bench was outscored, but the Bulls bench averaged more points in those games–26.6 to 25.9.
The Bulls were 47-9 when their bench outscored the opponent’s bench; 16-4 when the opponent’s bench outscored the Bulls’ bench and 6-0 when bench production was even.
Alonzo Mourning led Miami with 21 points and eight rebounds. But he was only 7 of 15 from the free-throw line.
“Dennis (Rodman) did a great job late in the ballgame on him,” Jackson said.
