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Heat Down 2-0 to Bulls; Wade Not Worried

Posted on: Wednesday, 25 April 2007, 06:00 CDT

By ANDREW SELIGMAN

CHICAGO - The way Dwyane Wade sees it, this first-round series with the Chicago Bulls is a long way from over. In fact, it hasn't even begun in his mind.

"The series doesn't start until somebody wins on the other's team's home court," Wade said.

Wade's logic may seem as flawed as his performance so far, but he and the Miami Heat know all about climbing out of 2-0 deficits. They did it last year and won the championship.

They'll need more from Wade and their other superstar, Shaquille O'Neal, to do it again.

Ben Gordon scored 27 points and Luol Deng added 26 to lead the Bulls to a 107-89 victory Tuesday night and a 2-0 lead over the defending champions.

"I have been around a long time and I've been in all these situations before," O'Neal said. "Basically, the Bulls did what they're supposed to do and protect their home court. We have to play smarter basketball. We got to come with a lot more energy and play with a lot more effort and a lot more passion."

In other playoff games: Phoenix beat the Los Angeles Lakers 126-98 to take a 2-0 lead in their series, and the Toronto Raptors evened their series with the New Jersey Nets at a game apiece with an 89-83 victory.

Gordon scored 11 in the third quarter, hitting three 3-pointers, and the Bulls built a 17-point lead. Deng scored 14 in the fourth as Chicago sent Miami halfway to elimination.

O'Neal accused the Bulls of flopping and lashed out at referee Eddie F. Rush after Game 1, but said it was a "perfect game today" for the officials. It was anything but that for the Heat and their superstars.

O'Neal and Wade had subpar performances again after struggling through foul trouble in the opener, finishing with 17 and 21 points, respectively. O'Neal was just 6-for-14 from the floor with eight rebounds. Wade, who led a late charge in Game 1, never really got going, hitting 9-of-19. Both stars had seven turnovers.

"We really can't make any excuses tonight," O'Neal said. "It was a well played game. They just outplayed us. I had way too many turnovers. They shot the ball extremely well."

Trailing 85-71 through three quarters, the Heat were within seven after Wade's layup early in the fourth, but they had no answer for Deng. Quiet in the first half after scoring 33 in the opener, Deng scored the Bulls' first eight points in the fourth before Thabo Sefolosha hit a jumper that made it 95-82 midway through the quarter.

The best-of-seven series shifts to Miami for two games, with Game 3 Friday night.

"The bottom line is we're the world champions and the first team that wins four games (advances), and that has not happened yet," Miami's Alonzo Mourning said.

Home teams that have taken the first two games in a best-of-seven series have gone on to advance 95 percent of the time, but the Heat and Bulls have bucked that trend in recent seasons.

Miami dropped the first two games at Dallas in last year's finals, then won four straight to capture the championship. Two years ago, the Bulls opened with two wins at home over Washington but lost the next four in their first playoff appearance since the Michael Jordan-Scottie Pippen era.

"We've got to be mature enough to understand that Miami has been in this situation," said Deng, who was 2-of-7 with six points in the first half. "We can't relax. We have to keep playing aggressive."

And Bulls coach Scott Skiles said overconfidence "is not a problem" after what happened to his team against Washington.

The Bulls fell into this matchup when they lost the season finale to New Jersey and dropped from the second seed to fifth. But what seemed like trouble for them has, so far, looked rather easy.

As they did in Game 1, the Bulls beat the Heat with quick passes that led to open looks. They were 43-for-78 overall and 11-of-17 on 3-pointers after shooting an uncharacteristic 3-for-17 from long range in the opener.

Now, the Heat need another big comeback.

"(We've) always been a team when it's looking bad and we need a win we always get it and fight for it," Wade said.

Suns 126, Lakers 98

At Phoenix, the Suns revved up their frenetic style to near perfection, going up 2-0 and ending a streak of five consecutive losses in Game 2s.

Leandro Barbosa, presented with the NBA Sixth Man Award trophy before tipoff, scored 26 to match his career playoff high for the second game in a row, leading six Suns in double figures.

Steve Nash had 16 points and 14 assists, then sat out the final 14 1/2 minutes.

Amare Stoudemire, who was watching in street clothes when the Suns lost Game 2 to the Lakers a year ago, added 20 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots - two of them spectacular ones against Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom to set the tone in the first quarter.

Bryant, the NBA's scoring champ who was coming off a 39-point performance in the Lakers' 95-87 loss in Game 1 on Sunday, scored 15 on 5-of-13 shooting.

Game 3 is Thursday night in Los Angeles.

Raptors 89, Nets 83

At Toronto, Anthony Parker scored 26 points, Chris Bosh added 25 points and 13 rebounds, and the Raptors won a playoff game for the first time since a 94-84 home win over Detroit on April 27, 2002.

New Jersey's Bostjan Nachbar missed a 3-pointer from the corner that would have tied the game with 8 seconds to play, sending the teams to New Jersey for Friday's Game 3 tied at one game apiece.

The victory came hours after Sam Mitchell was honored as the NBA's coach of the year for leading the Raptors to a 20-win improvement and their first Atlantic Division title.

Vince Carter had 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Nets, who also got 14 points and 11 boards from Jason Kidd. Nachbar finished with 17 points for the Nets.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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