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Dwyane Wade's Bulls host the Heat on Saturday
By: Sam Chase - StatFox
Published: 12/9/2016  at  8:45:00 PM
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MIAMI HEAT

at CHICAGO BULLS

Tip-off: Saturday, 8:00 p.m. ET
Line: NA, Total: NA

Dwyane Wade faces the Heat in Chicago for the first time since leaving the organization this past summer.

The Heat are in Cleveland on Friday night and Chicago on Saturday night for the final two games of a three-game road trip that started with a 103-95 loss at Atlanta on Wednesday (MIA +9). It was the third straight loss for Miami and dropped them to 7-15 (10-12 ATS); they are sitting in last place in the Southeast Division. The Heat held the Hawks to 4 of 19 three-point shooting but were dominated inside, as Dwight Howard and Paul Millsap combined for 44 points and Atlanta shot 39 of 69 from the floor (56.5 percent) on two-point shots. Their Saturday night opponent, the Bulls, will enter that matchup coming off of one of their biggest wins of the season, a 95-91 win (CHI +3) in Chicago over a Spurs team that was previously 13-0 on the road this year. The victory improved their record to 12-10 and 13-9 ATS, the third-best record against the spread in the NBA. The Bulls got their win over San Antonio behind an impressive defensive effort in the first half that held the Spurs to 32 points in the first two quarters. For Miami, the respective availabilities of SF Justise Winslow, SG Josh Richardson, PF James Johnson and SF Luke Babbit are all in question entering the weekend, while SG Dion Waiters will also likely remain out.

Entering the weekend, Miami’s offensive efficiency rating of 103.3 points per 100 possessions ranked 23rd in the league, and their defensive efficiency rating of 105.9 points allowed per 100 possessions ranked 14th. They play at one of the league’s slowest paces, averaging 93.8 possessions per 48 minutes going into the game against Cleveland. Their offense begins with PG Goran Dragic, who is the team’s leader in field goal attempts now that franchise player Dwyane Wade has left town. He’s had a nice bounce-back season from a disappointing 2015-16 campaign, as he has improved on both his scoring and assists numbers from last season (he now leads the team in both). He had a season-high 29 points on 11-for-17 shooting on Tuesday against the Knicks, and handed out seven assists as well. It was the third time in five games that he scored at least 27 points. Trailing right behind him in scoring, but much more “dominant” as a player, is C Hassan Whiteside. As one of the most intimidating centers in the league, Whiteside leads the NBA in rebounds and is third in blocks. He put up arguably his best stat line of the season a week ago against the Trail Blazers with 28 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks. SG Wayne Ellington saw his first action of the season against Boston on November 28, and he has introduced a three-point threat that the team was previously lacking. SG Tyler Johnson had a career-high 27 points against the Hawks on Wednesday.

The Bulls are just outside the top third of the league with an offensive efficiency rating of 107.9 points per 100 possessions, and their defense is just inside the top third of the league with 104.7 points allowed per 100 possessions. They play at a moderately slow pace of 95.4 possessions per 48 minutes. Averaging 25.4 points per game, SF Jimmy Butler is a top-10 scorer in the NBA this season. The Bulls were able to get by the Spurs despite Butler having one of his worst games of the year, a season-low 13-point performance on 4-of-14 shooting. Prior to that game, he had scored at least 20 points in 14 consecutive games, a stretch that included 10 games of 26 points or more. He’s averaging a career-high 6.7 rebounds per game, seventh best among NBA small forwards. Wade, a Heat legend now on the Bulls, will be playing his former team in Chicago for the first time since leaving under somewhat contentious circumstances in the offseason. He’s actually scoring more than he did last season despite now being a No. 2 scoring option, and he is shooting a career-best 35.4 percent from deep. PF Taj Gibson and C Robin Lopez are the big men in the starting lineup; they lead the team in rebounding and blocks, respectively. SF Doug McDermott scored eight points in 26 minutes against the Spurs in his first action since suffering a concussion on November 12. Newly-added PG Rajon Rondo has looked like a shadow of his former self, and ostensible deep threat PF Nikola Mirotic has a three-point percentage of 29.4 percent.


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