Heat crushes Bulls behind another explosive night from offense, stays alive for NBA Cup. Takeaways

Chicago Bulls guard Josh Giddey (3) defends Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (13) during the second half at United Center.

David Banks-Imagn Images

CHICAGO

Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 143-107 blowout win over the Chicago Bulls (8-7) on Friday night at United Center to open a two-game grip and improve to 2-1 during the four-game group-stage of the NBA Cup in-season tournament. The Heat (10-6) closes the trip on Sunday afternoon against the 76ers in Philadelphia:

In a matchup between two of the fastest-paced teams in the NBA, the Heat’s offense stole the show and dominated.

With the Heat entering as the fastest-paced team and the Bulls entering as the third fastest-paced team in the NBA, it’s no surprise that there were a lot of points scored Friday.

But the Heat ended up scoring most of them, totaling 143 points on 47 percent shooting from the field, 14-of-38 (36.8 percent) shooting from three-point range and 35-of-44 (79.5 percent) shooting from the foul line.

The 143 points are the sixth most that the Heat has scored in a game in franchise history. Four of the 12 times that the Heat has reached the 140-point mark in franchise history have already come this season.’

“It started with our defensive intentions,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “That looked like us, before Bam [Adebayo] was out. Defensively, covering a lot of ground. Guys were really taking the challenge, making it tough on them. It felt like we were able to take away some of that transition. They’re a very good offensive team. And then get them into the second half of the clock, more possessions than not.

“And then offensively, that definitely looked more like how we looked 10 days ago, two weeks ago. The pace was solid, sharing the ball. And from sharing the ball, we were able to really attack and put some pressure on them, either drawing fouls or getting into the paint and making the right plays.”

After the Bulls took a seven-point lead midway through the first quarter, the Heat responded with a big 53-21 run to break open the game and pull ahead by 25 points with 4:10 left in the second quarter. The Heat ended up entering halftime with a 70-52 advantage,

The Heat never looked back, extending its lead to as large as 41 points.

Eight Heat players finished with double-digit points led by 57 combined points from Kel’el Ware Norman Powell and Bam Adebayo.

Ware totaled 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 shooting from the foul line and 14 rebounds in 28 minutes.

Powell ended the night with 19 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field, 2-of-7 shooting on threes and 5-of-8 shooting from the foul line in 25 minutes.

Adebayo finished with 18 points on 4-of-11 shooting from the field, 2-of-5 shooting on threes and 8-of-10 shooting from the foul line, seven rebounds, five assists and three blocks in 29 minutes.

The Heat and Bulls are very familiar with each other, as they have faced off in the NBA’s play-in tournament in each of the last three seasons. Miami has ended Chicago’s season each time.

The Heat is now 1-0 against the Bulls this season, with their second of four matchups this regular season coming on Jan. 8 in Chicago.

The Heat now stands four games above. 500 for the first time since the 2023-24 season. The Heat never reached that mark last season.

“It shows you we’ve got guys that go in there, stay ready, and make an impact on the game,” Ware said of the Heat’s impressive depth.

Along with routing the Bulls, the Heat also survived a Powell injury scare.

Powell, who been among the NBA’s most efficient scorers this season, left Friday’s game with 4:34 left in the first quarter and hobbled to the Heat’s locker room.

Soon after, the Heat labeled Powell’s return to the contest as questionable because of a left groin strain.

But after testing his tweaked groin on the stationary bike, Powell returned to the game with 8:24 remaining in the second quarter.

Powell didn’t waste any time in showing he felt healthy enough to play, scoring eight points in three minutes after re-entering the game.

Powell closed the win with 19 points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals in 25 minutes. He was able to watch the entire fourth quarter of the lopsided game from the Heat’s bench.

“I just felt it on that last layup I had in the first half and wanted to get it checked and make sure that there was nothing more serious than that,’ Powell said. “We wrapped it up, did a little test and I’m always going to try to fight through pain and injuries. … I know the team needs me out there and I’m just glad it’s nothing too serious.”

Even though Powell was able to return and finish Friday’s game, the strained left groin is worth monitoring with another game in less than 48 hours. The Heat takes on the 76ers in Philadelphia on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Powell, 32, missed three games earlier this season with a right groin strain.

“He was just tight,” Spoelstra said of Powell. “He’s very aware because of what he went through earlier. But it wasn’t the same thing, and he loosened up, got checked out by the trainers and he assured us that he was ready to go and he feels good right now.”

The Heat crushed the Bulls despite missing a chunk if its usual rotation.

Forward Nikola Jovic missed his second straight game because of a right hip impingement and forward Andrew Wiggins missed his first game because of a left hip flexor strain. In addition, Heat guard Tyler Herro is still waiting to make his season debut after undergoing ankle surgery in September.

Jovic, Wiggins and Herro did not travel with the team to Chicago for Friday’s game, remaining in Miami.

The Heat is hopeful Jovic and Wiggins will be back soon from their hip issues.

“It just got really tight the latter part of the fourth quarter [of Wednesday’s win over the Golden State Warriors],” Spoelstra said Friday. “He’s day-to-day. He also wasn’t feeling well that whole game. So that might have had an effect a little bit. But overall we’re encouraged by the prognosis on it.

As for Jovic, Spoelstra said his hip injury is “something that he’s been dealing with a little bit, on and off. So we want to make sure that we’re going to be taking care of it right now.”

The Heat is also hopeful that Herro will make his return next week, possibly as soon as in Monday’s matchup against the Dallas Mavericks at Kaseya Center.

Along with missing Herro, Jovic and Wiggins, the Heat was also without Vlad Goldin (G League), Kasparas Jakucionis (G League) and Terry Rozier (not with team) on Friday.

This left the Heat with just 11 available players in Chicago.

The Bulls were also short-handed, as they also were missing a few rotation players in Zach Collins and Coby White because of injuries. The Bulls then lost Maras Buzelis (ankle) and Dalen Terry (calf) to injuries during Friday’s game.

With Wiggins missing his first game of the season, the Heat went with a new starting lineup that featured Ware as the fill-in starter.

Wiggins started in each of the Heat’s first 15 games before missing Friday’s contest.

The Heat started Ware in Wiggins’ place against the Bulls, opening Friday’s game with a lineup of Davion Mitchell, Powell, Pelle Larsson, Adebayo and Ware. It’s the sixth different starting lineup that Miami has used through the first 16 games of the season.

Ware continues to move between a starting role and a reserve role, as he has now made 12 starts and played off the bench in four games this season.

Ware made six straight starts while Adebayo was out with a toe injury, but moved back to the bench when Adebayo returned for Wednesday’s win over the Warriors. But after one game as a reserve, Ware was back in the Heat’s starting unit on Friday in place of the sidelined Wiggins.

Ware continued to impress during the most consistent stretch of his NBA career, finishing Friday’s victory with 20 points, 14 rebounds, one steal and one block. He has now grabbed double-digit rebounds in seven straight games.

“He’s stacking up good day after good day,” Spoelstra said of Ware. “And the important thing about these games, he’s feeling the importance of the games. He’s playing meaningful minutes. He understands the responsibility to play well.”

The Heat’s thin roster also led to extended playing time for forward Keshad Johnson, who contributed quality minutes on Friday.

Johnson logged a career-high 30 minutes, totaling 14 points, 12 rebounds, one steal and two blocks in the Heat’s win. The 12 rebounds also represented a career-high.

“He made a big impact,” Spoelstra said of Johnson.

The Heat is still alive in the race for the NBA Cup.

With Friday’s win over the Bulls, the Heat improved to 2-1 during the four-game group stage of the league’s in-season tournament.

The Heat’s five-team group includes the Heat, Bulls, New York Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks and Charlotte Hornets.

The group’s current standings are: Bucks 2-0, Heat 2-1, Knicks 1-1, Bulls 1-2 and Hornets 0-2.

With the NBA’s 30 teams randomly drawn into six groups of five within their conference based on win-loss records from the 2024-25 regular season, the winner of each of the six groups and two wild cards (the team from each conference with the best record in group play that finished second in its group) — a total of eight teams — will advance to the knockout single-elimination rounds of the NBA Cup.

If two or more teams are tied within a group, the tie among the teams will be broken according to the following tiebreakers (in sequential order): head-to-head record in group play, point differential in group play, total points scored in group play, regular-season record from last regular season and random drawing. Overtime scoring will not count towards the point differential and total points tiebreakers.

If two or more teams are tied for the wild card in a conference, the tie among the teams will be broken following the same tiebreaker protocol, with the exception of the head-to-head record in group play. Ties within groups will be broken before the calculation of wild card tiebreakers.

The Heat has one group-play game left to play: Wednesday against the Bucks at Kaseya Center.

The Heat’s chances of advancing past the group stage will come down to that matchup against the Bucks.

If the Knicks lose one of their final two group-play games, it would only take a win over the Bucks for the Heat to win the group.

But if the Knicks win their final two group-play games (which includes a matchup against the Bucks on Nov. 28) and the Heat defeats the Bucks, the Knicks and Heat would both be 3-1. In this scenario, the Knicks would win the group based on head-to-head tiebreaker since the Knicks defeated the Heat in New York in a group-play game on Nov. 14.

But after earning a 36-point win over the Bulls on Friday, the Heat has a strong point differential of plus 46 in group play. This could help the Heat get the Eastern Conference’s wild card if it can’t win its group.

However, if the Heat loses to the Bucks on Wednesday, it will essentially be eliminated from the NBA Cup race.

Despite the recently added wrinkle of the in-season tourney, every team continues to play 82 regular-season games. That’s because every game in the NBA’s in-season tournament will count toward regular-season stats and standings, except the championship game.

The 22 teams not advancing to the quarterfinals will play two regular-season games on either Dec. 11 or 12 and Dec. 14 or 15 to fill the missing two games in their standard 82-game schedules.

The four teams that lose in the quarterfinals will each play a regular-season game on Dec. 11, 12, 14 or 15 to fill the missing game in their 82-game schedules.

For the four teams that win in the quarterfinals, their 82nd game will come in the semifinals.

And the two teams that advance to the championship game will play an extra game (83rd game) for the in-season tournament title that won’t count toward the regular season.

The quarterfinals will be played in NBA team markets on Dec. 9 and 10. These games will be hosted by the two teams with the best record in group play games from each conference, and the team with the best record in group play from each conference will host the wild card team in their respective conference.

The semifinals and championship game of the event will be played at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Dec. 13 and Dec. 16.

What’s at stake in the in-season tournament? The NBA Cup trophy and bonus money for the quarterfinalists, semifinalists, runner-up and champion.

Each player on the four teams that lose in the quarterfinals of this year’s in-season tournament will get $53,093, each player on the two teams that lose in the semifinals will get $106,187, each player on the team that loses in the championship will get $212,373 and each player on the team that’s crowned champion of the tourney will get $530,933.

This story was originally published November 21, 2025 at 10:35 PM.

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Anthony Chiang

Miami Herald

Anthony Chiang covers the Miami Heat for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and was born and raised in Miami.