Heat at Bulls
The Miami Heat continue to have all sorts of problems when trying to defend their home court, so they'll try their hand on the road again when they visit the Chicago Bulls on Friday. The Heat suffered their fifth consecutive home loss with Tuesday's 104-92 setback against Brooklyn in a game that saw the hosts get outscored 30-15 in a dismal fourth quarter.
"You can definitely see guys not playing just free with their game," Miami guard Dwyane Wade told reporters. "We're overthinking at times. In this game, you don't want that. You just want to play." The Bulls have the same ugly home record (3-7) as the Heat but Chicago has split its last four at the United Center and topped visiting Phoenix 124-116 on Wednesday. Jabari Parker finished with 20 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists as the Bulls shot a season-high 56.8 percent to snap a four-game losing streak. "I thought our outlet passes were crisp," Chicago coach Fred Hoiberg told the media. "I thought they were up the floor, and I thought our guys did a good job of getting down quickly. We didn't hang our heads. We had a couple answer-back plays after they scored where we scored on the other end, and those are important. Those are big plays. We need all those points."
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FS Sun (Miami), WGN (Chicago)
ABOUT THE HEAT (6-11): Center Hassan Whiteside had 21 points and 23 rebounds against Brooklyn but his fellow starters combined to produce 43 points on 16-of-48 shooting. Wade did not help much off the bench with five points on 2-of-8 from the floor as he returned from a seven-game layoff following the birth of his daughter. Point guard Goran Dragic (knee) is expected to miss his third straight game Friday and Tyler Johnson (hamstring) will sit out the team's two-game road trip.
ABOUT THE BULLS (5-13): Chicago continues to operate without several key injured players, but forward Lauri Markkanen (elbow) had "his best conditioning workout" on Wednesday, according to Hoiberg, and both Markkanen and guard Kris Dunn (knee) took part in pick-and-roll drills. Zach LaVine has been carrying the load for the shorthanded squad and he returned from a one-game layoff due to an illness to provide 29 points and six assists against the Suns. Second-year man Ryan Arcidiacono has filled in for Dunn and had 14 points while making 4-of-6 3-pointers Wednesday, improving to 46.2 percent from beyond the arc.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Heat SG Josh Richardson has missed all six of his 3-point attempts in two games since tying a career high with seven made 3s at Indiana last Friday.
2. Whiteside is day-to-day with knee tendinitis.
3. Miami took three of four meetings last season.