Patrick Beverley just wanted to see his new team pull out “a professional win.’’
That meant coming out with energy and the first punch against a playoff team like Miami, withstanding the counterpunch, and the delivering the knockout.
The Bulls guard and his teammates checked all those boxes.
Finally.
In a season of big leads turning into bad losses, maybe, just maybe, this group has it finally figured out.
“We haven’t had a lot of moments like that this year quite honestly,’’ coach Billy Donovan said of the 113-99 win over the Heat on Saturday. “You’ve got to lean into it. It was good for us against a team like that, that we could respond when they really got back into the game.
“This was a hard back-to-back, quick turnaround [from Friday double-overtime win over Minnesota]. Hopefully we can learn and grow from this and get better as a group.’’
Beverley was there to do everything possible to make sure of that.
“We came in understanding that was a must-need win,’’ Beverley said. “We didn’t want to come out in mud, we wanted to throw the first punch and we did. They responded like any good team would, and our first punch was real heavy. That led to a win.’’
The Bulls couldn’t have asked for a better first half.
If it actually was a boxing match it would have been stopped in the second round.
Not only did the home team dominate on the defensive end, holding Miami to 45 points on 16-of-40 (40%) shooting, but put on an offensive clinic.
And with an unlikely player leading the way.
When Beverley wasn’t gesturing to the Heat players that they were “too small’’ after scoring inside the paint, he was hitting three-pointers.
Yes, not a misprint.
The former Marshall standout came into the night shooting 31% from three as a Bull, and quickly course corrected that all in the second quarter with just over five minutes left.
With the Bulls up 14, Beverley first dialed long distance with a 26-footer. A minute later, it was a 25-footer on a pass from Nikola Vucevic. Then it was DeMar DeRozan who found Beverley beyond the three-point line, stretching the lead to 18.
Beverley then mixed it up, attacking Miami in the paint for the lay-up. With 2:34 left in the half, three-pointer No. 4 found its way from Beverley’s hands to the bottom of the net, and when the smoke settled around the point guard the Bulls lead was up to 21.
No wonder Beverley ran towards his home crowd with the Miami timeout, animated and excited, looking to turn the volume up in the United Center even higher.
It worked, as the Bulls finished the first half up 25, shooting a ridiculous 61.7% from the field and 9-of-17 (52.9%) from three. A 70-45 lead that would be insurmountable to giveaway for most teams.
Most teams aren’t the Bulls, however.
Giving away double-digit leads has been a staple in Bulls (33-37) basketball this season, and it wouldn’t be any different against Miami.
Thanks to 14 points from former Bull Jimmy Butler, Miami at least gave themselves a chance, outscoring the Bulls 32-20 in that third stanza.
With 8:43 left in the game, Tyler Herro’s three-pointer actually cut the lead to just three points. Far too often this season, there would be no answer for momentum like that, but on Saturday there was, with Zach LaVine hitting a three and the Bulls going on an 11-6 run.
After a Miami timeout with 3:26 in hopes of one last run, it was the Bulls that came out punching, rattling off three-straight baskets to extend the lead back to 17 points.
The only downer on the night was starter Alex Caruso left the game in the first half because of a nagging left mid-foot sprain and was seen exiting the arena with a walking boot on.