CHICAGO - The Miami Heat’s 27-game winning streak was snapped Wednesday night by the Chicago Bulls, 101-97, when a furious comeback by LeBron James and his teammates fell short.
The Heat finished six victories shy of the 33-game record held by the 1971-1972 Los Angeles Lakers.
Luol Deng scored 28 points, Carlos Boozer added 21 points and 17 rebounds, and the Bulls brought the Heat’s pursuit of NBA history to a screeching halt.
Miami’s superstar did all he could to keep the run going, scoring 32 points and even collecting a flagrant foul during a physical final few minutes.
The Heat hadn’t lost since the Indiana Pacers beat them in Indianapolis on Feb. 1. But after grinding out some close victories lately, including a rally from 27 points down in Cleveland, no one counted them out until the final buzzer.
For the better part of two months, they were the NBA’s comeback kings. They erased seven deficits of at least 10 points during the streak. They found themselves trailing in the fourth quarter 11 times and won them all.
Not Wednesday.
And when they walked off the floor in Chicago, faces were stoic as the Heat trudged toward the locker room. James turned and glared at one fan who grabbed at his head.
The Bulls, meanwhile, whooped and slapped hands with anyone they could reach.
It will go down as the second-longest winning streak in American major pro sports. And some of those Lakers believed their time would pass as Miami’s streak rolled along, with Jerry West among those saying he believed the reigning champions had a real shot at pulling it off.
The streak began on Super Bowl Sunday in Toronto, a day when Heat players were mildly annoyed about having to miss football’s title game. When San Francisco and Baltimore were to be playing, the Heat were to be flying home for a game the following night.
So team officials team changed course, as a surprise.
Miami beat Toronto that afternoon, then stayed in the city several more hours to watch the Super Bowl together, an event highlighted by Shane Battier giving an unplanned speech about appreciating little moments as a team.
For whatever reason, the Heat were unbeatable for nearly the next two months.
And they won games in a number of different ways.
They blew out good teams like the Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder and the Bulls, then inexplicably struggled with lottery-bound Cleveland, Detroit, Sacramento, Charlotte and Orlando. They rallied from 13 points down in the final 8 minutes to beat Boston, from a 27-point third-quarter hole at Cleveland and from 11-point deficits against Detroit andCharlotte - all those coming in a seven-day span.
A buzzer-beater by James against Orlando. Double-overtime against Sacramento. Huge comebacks. Whatever it took.
There were times when even the Heat themselves didn’t know how long the streak was. Because it was interrupted by the All-Star break, Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra was surprised when a staff member said something about Miami having won nine in a row. When it was at 24 games, Dwyane Wade made a reference to “23, 24, whatever it is.”
They insisted they did not care about it, whatever the number was.
Heat President Pat Riley played for the Lakers team that won 33 in a row, and remained silent throughoutMiami’s streak, mainly because he rarely gives interviews these days but more so because the official team stance was that it simply did not matter.
“I understand the history of the game,” James said after the streak reached 25 games. “I appreciate the history of the game. But this team has a bigger goal than winning a number of consecutive games in a row.”
Still, the streak will go down as the story of the regular season.
When it started, Miami was 5½ games behind San Antonio for the overall NBA lead, only a half-game ahead of New York in the Eastern Conference race, held just a four-game edge over Atlanta in the Southeast Division and were the league’s ninth-best road team in terms of winning percentage.
The Heat now sit atop the overall NBA standings, gained 12 games over New York in the East entering Wednesday, put away the Hawks for good several weeks ago and are now, by far, the league’s best road team. With the streak over, all that’s left now is getting ready for the postseason.
They trailed by 13 points in the first half Wednesday night, took the lead while outscoring Chicago 22-14 in the third quarter and were within two points early in the fourth after a basket by Wade.
That’s when Luol Deng answered with a three-pointer from the wing and Kirk Hinrich brought the crowd to its feet with a floater. Then, after a layup by James, Deng hit a three-pointer to make it 83-75 with just over six minutes left.
It got testy after that. James did all he could to keep the streak going, taking enough hard hits that even his headband was dislodged, and finished with seven rebounds.
Chris Bosh scored 21. Wade added 18 points after a sore right knee sidelined him for victories over Charlotte and Orlando. But the Heat fell to a team that continues to give them fits even though Derrick Rose has been sidelined all year.
Deng hit 4 three-pointers to go with 7 rebounds and 5 assists.
Boozer was a force inside. Jimmy Butler provided a spark with 17 points and the Bulls stopped Miami even though they were missing Joakim Noah (right foot), Marco Belinelli (abdominal strain) and Richard Hamilton (lower back).
Bulls fans chanted, “End of streak! End of streak!” in the closing minute.
Sports, Pages 17 on 03/28/2013