Bulls End Heat Win Streak at 27

the miami heat's bid for nba history ended wednesday night when their 27-game winning streak was snapped by the chicago bulls 101-97. the victory clinched an eastern conference playoff berth for the bulls, who thrilled a raucous crowd at chicago's united center.

miami finished just six games shy of tying the 33-game record held by the 1971-72 los angeles lakers, who also won the nba title the same year. heat all-pro & reigning mvp lebron james said about the team's incredible accomplishment, " its one of the best that this league has ever seen. we recognized that & rightfully so."  

the defending champion heat hadn't lost since the indiana pacers beat them easily in indianapolis on february 1. but after grinding out several close wins - including an improbable rally from 27 down in cleveland last week - no one counted them out until the final buzzer. their determination, focus & resilience was a joy to witness.

for the better part of two months, the heat were the nba's comeback kings. they blew out the bulls, los angeles clippers & oklahoma city thunder (last year's nba finals opponent), yet struggled against lottery-bound charlotte, cleveland, detroit, orlando & sacramento. they rallied from 13 points in the last eight minutes to beat rival boston, as well as 11-point deficits against the bobcats & pistons, all in a seven-day span.  

heat president pat riley played on the lakers team who won 33 straight games. he remained silent during the heat's streak, mainly because he rarely gives interviews & the team's official stance was the streak didn't really matter. in south beach this season, its championship-or-bust. as such, nothing else matters for the heat. 

the bulls were led by all-pro luol deng, who finished with 28 points, seven rebounds, five assists & two steals. carlos boozer had 21 points & 17 rebounds. jimmy butler scored 17 points, two of which came on a thrilling dunk over chris bosh, which electrified the crowd & hyped the generally reserved second-year player from marquette.

taj gibson, kirk hinrich & nate robinbson fueled the bulls win, despite injuries to all-pro joakim noah, guards marco belinelli & richard hamilton. said gibson, "it says we have a good team. its all about what we think in the locker room. a lot of people kind of write us off every other day, but we just stick to our principles & do what we have to do." bulls coach tom thibodeau said, "when you look at what they've done, to be the defending world champions & to have a winning streak like that knowing that everyone's chasing you, credit them. i think you can learn from them."