On Friday night, the Chicago Bulls and the Miami Heat will play in the Eastern Conference’s last play-in game. This game is extremely important and will begin around 7:00 PM EST.
Chicago is here because of a win over the Toronto Raptors on the road the previous night, while Miami is here because of a loss to the Atlanta Hawks at home on Tuesday. The victor will move on to the playoffs and face the #1 seed Milwaukee Bucks in the first round.
Latest news on Zach LaVine, Demar DeRozan and Jimmy Butler
On Wednesday night, the Bulls defeated the Raptors 105-102 behind 30 second-half points from Zach LaVine. They will now face the Heat in the third and final play-in game.
On Wednesday, LaVine led a second-half rally and finished as Chicago’s leading scorer in a game that the Bulls absolutely had to win.
On Friday, LaVine and the Bulls will take on the Heat for the eighth seed, and he should be relied upon as one of Chicago’s primary offensive options. He has now scored 30 or more points four times in his last ten games.
In the same amount of time, DeMar DeRozan scored 23 points (10-19 FG, 0-1 3Pt, 3-5 FT), grabbed 7 boards, dished out 3 assists, and blocked 2 shots.
Even though DeRozan wasn’t as sharp as he had been in prior games, he still helped in a variety of ways and was a major factor in Chicago winning and keeping their season alive.
Today’s game against the Heat is crucial for the Raptors’ playoff hopes, as DeRozan is anticipated to participate.
The Heat, who were the Eastern Conference’s top seed the year before, may not even make it past the first round of the playoffs this year.
After a poor start against Atlanta on Tuesday night, the Miami Heat ultimately lost 116-105 and are now in danger of being eliminated from playoff contention.
With a nine-point deficit after the first quarter and a fifteen-point deficit at the break, Miami never recovered. The Heat were led by Kyle Lowry’s 33 points, followed by Tyler Herro’s 26 and Jimmy Butler’s 21.
Although Jimmy Butler did not participate in Thursday’s practice due to personal issues, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald reports that Butler will be eligible to play against the Bulls in Friday’s Play-In Game.
Butler, who had missed the Heat’s previous two games, logged 38 minutes in Tuesday’s Play-In matchup with Atlanta.
Over his previous ten games, the star forward has played 33.3 minutes per game, averaging 24.8 points, 6.7 assists, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.6 steals. He is expected to return to action on Friday.
Injury Update Heat:
- Jimmy Butler (Personal) – Questionable
- Kyle Lowry (Knee) – Questionable
- Gabe Vincent (Back) – Questionable
- Nikola Jovic (Back) – Out
Injury Update Bulls:
Justin Lewis (Knee) – Out for the season
Lonzo Ball (Knee) – Out for the season
