The Chicago Bulls survived another scare from the Indiana Pacers on Monday to grind out a tense 96-90 victory and take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven East Conference opening-round playoff series.
As in Game 1, regular season MVP contender Derrick Rose was in sensational form and recorded 36 points, eight rebounds and six assists to pull his team through.
Chicago sharpshooter Kyle Korver made a three-pointer to give the home team a 90-85 lead with 1 minute, 4 seconds remaining as the Bulls hung on to hand the Pacers another heartbreaking loss.
Photo: EPA
The Pacers were in position to win Game 1 on Saturday, but Chicago overcome a 10-point deficit with three minutes remaining to take the contest.
“We’re standing toe-to-toe with this team. I’m proud of our guys and we’ll take it back to Indiana and see what happens,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel told reporters.
The eighth-seeded Pacers host Game 3 tomorrow.
Photo: AFP
After staying within striking distance of the Bulls throughout Monday’s game, Indiana took a two-point lead midway through the fourth, before Rose caught fire.
Chicago’s All-Star guard, who had 39 points on Saturday, scored nine of his team’s next 11 points.
The Bulls finished the regular season with the best record, but have had their hands full against the Pacers.
“We knew it was going to be tough. They’re a good team, they finished the regular season strong,” Rose said of the Pacers. “We’re just happy that we won tonight. We almost lost because of turnovers.”
Carlos Boozer had 17 points and 16 rebounds for Chicago, who had 21 turnovers in the game.
Indiana got 19 points from Danny Granger but lost starting point guard Darren Collison to an ankle injury in the first half. His status for Game 3 is unknown.
HEAT 94, 76ERS 73
AFP, MIAMI
LeBron James scored 29 points, while Chris Bosh had his second straight double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds as Miami easily beat Philadelphia 94-73 in game two of their opening-round playoff series.
James also had seven rebounds and six assists for the Heat, who never trailed in the game to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference series.
Dwyane Wade, who missed practice with a headache on Sunday, scored 14 points.
“He controlled the game,” James said of Wade. “He had two people on him so he just got off the ball and let other guys make things happen and it’s good to have him on the court than in a suit.”
Thaddeus Young scored 18 points, while Evan Turner added 15 for the 76ers, who shot just 26 percent in a dismal first half.
Mike Bibby’s three pointer gave Miami a 49-31 lead at halftime, with Bosh, James and Wade all scoring at least 10 points.
“We know this team is going to have a lot of energy when we go back to Philly,” Bosh said. “We’re going to have to keep that in mind and get off to another great start.”
Game 3 is tomorrow in Philadelphia.
The Heat stretched their lead to as high as 25 in the second half and led 75-52 at the end of the third. With the game in hand Miami rested their stars in the final quarter.
“Our energy tonight was much better, from beginning to end,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
It was Philadelphia’s second-lowest playoff point total since 1955. In the 1999 postseason, they lost 79-68 to Orlando.
“If they’re playing great, they’re a better team,” Sixers coach Doug Collins said of Miami. “OK? If they’re playing on top of their game, they’re a better team. I mean, they won 58, we won 41.”
“That doesn’t mean that we aren’t going to play and compete and fight, but when they come out tonight and defend the way they did it’s going to be very difficult for us to beat them,” he added.
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