Coby White notched game highs of 26 points and 11 assists as the Chicago Bulls earned a wire-to-wire 124-116 win over the host Miami Heat on Thursday night.
Chicago’s Nikola Vucevic added 24 points and a game-high 12 rebounds for his sixth double-double in his past seven games. Vucevic added seven assists and three steals.
The Bulls, who have won five of their past seven games, also got a season-high 24 points from reserve Ayo Dosunmu, who made 10 of 12 shots, including 3 of 4 3-pointers. He also had eight rebounds and five assists.
Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan scored 23 points, making 10 of 11 free throws.
Reserve Jaime Jaquez Jr. led Miami with 22 points. It was his 12th straight double-figure game, the first Heat rookie to do that since Kendrick Nunn in 2019-2020.
Jimmy Butler added 20 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for the Heat.
Chicago raced to a 33-8 lead. However, Miami rallied to cut its deficit to 36-22 by the end of the first quarter.
The Bulls started the second quarter on a 12-2 run, but the Heat charged back and cut their deficit to 60-56 by halftime. Miami closed the half on a 26-7 run, making six of its final eight 3-point shots. Miami shot 52.6 percent in the second quarter while Chicago shot 37.5 percent.
Jaquez led all first-half scorers with 14 points. DeRozan led Chicago with 13 points, and White had 12 points and seven assists with a plus-17 rating.
Vucevic had the big third quarter (15 points) as Chicago took a 93-88 lead into the fourth.
Miami could never get closer than four points in the fourth quarter.
The Bulls finished the game with a 52-38 edge in paint points.
Miami is 10-2 this season against teams below .500. Both losses were to Chicago.
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