Zach LaVine is making the most of his limited minutes.The guard scored 18 points in his second game with the Bulls, who ended the Miami Heat’s seven-game winning streak with a 119-111 victory Monday.”I’m still a little tired, a little winded, but I feel good,” LaVine said. ”It goes by really quick, I look up and like, man it’s already seven minutes, but I try to make the most of the 20 minutes, and I think I’m doing a good job so far.”
Justin Holiday made a career-best seven 3s and scored 25 points for the Bulls, who have won three straight and 14 of their last 21.LaVine tore an ACL last season with Minnesota and was traded in a package for Jimmy Butler in the offseason. He scored 14 points in his Bulls debut Saturday against Detroit.The Bulls are limiting LaVine to 20 minutes per game in his first week back. He scored 13 points in 12 minutes in the first half, and his four-point play with 0.9 seconds left before the break put the Bulls ahead 55-48 after a 14-2 run.
”That was pretty disgusting basketball,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
LaVine also had five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
”He came with a lot of confidence shooting, and he’s just so fast out there,” Nikola Mirotic said.
The Bulls hit 16 of 39 3-pointers (41 percent), their eighth straight game with at least 10 3-pointers, a franchise record.
”We weren’t communicating very well,” Heat guard Josh Richardson said. ”We knew the game plan coming in, we were going to have to make them drive it, or make thing tough on them from the 3-point line. We just didn’t do that.”
Holiday had four 3-pointers in the third quarter, including one that gave the Bulls its first of two 19-point leads in the third, 82-63.Mirotic scored all 18 of his points in the fourth quarter for the Bulls, holding off the Heat, who closed to a 105-100 deficit with 3:39 to play on James Johnson’s 3-pointer.Holiday made a jump shot and two free throws, and rookie Lauri Markkanen made a 3-pointer down the stretch. Markkanen had 17 points and nine rebounds.