MIAMI (AP)—The odds had to overwhelmingly be in Chicago’s favor. Down by a point with 22.7 seconds left, with Derrick Rose heading to the line to shoot a pair of free throws.
The reigning NBA MVP. He was a perfect 29 for 29 from the foul line in the fourth quarter this season. As if this moment needed extra significance, it was coming against the Miami Heat, the team that downed Rose and the Bulls in last season’s Eastern Conference finals by taking the series’ last four games.
Rose missed the first.
Missed the second, too.
And missed a potentially game-tying jumper with 3.7 seconds left to boot, as somehow the Heat held on for a wild 97-93 win on Sunday. LeBron James—the player who Rose supplanted as the league MVP—scored 35 points for Miami, which never trailed yet never could relax until Chris Bosh sealed it by making two free throws with 0.1 seconds left.
“This is so surreal right now knowing that I had a chance to win the game,” said Rose, emotional at his locker afterward. “And this time it didn’t work out.”
Bosh scored 24 points and added 12 rebounds for the Heat (15-5), who got 15 points from Dwyane Wade and pulled within one game of the Bulls (17-5) in the East.
“Like the playoffs in January,” Wade said.
Richard Hamilton and Joakim Noah each scored 11 for Chicago, which got 10 apiece from Ronnie Brewer and Carlos Boozer.
“A highly contested basketball game,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.
Oh, that doesn’t even begin to tell the story of this one.
“I let my team down,” Rose said.-http://sports.yahoo.com
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