Heat 83, Bulls 72 Posted Friday April 20, 2012 12:14AM By Shandel Richardson, for NBA.com THE FACTS: The Miami Heat kept their hopes of earning the Eastern Conference's top seed by defeating the Chicago Bulls 83-72 Thursday at AmericanAirlines Arena. Forward LeBron James led all scorers with 27 points while Dwyane Wade contributed 18 points and five assists. The Heat were playing without forward Chris Bosh, who missed his second straight game with what coach Erik Spoelstra termed as "bumps and bruises." The Heat's Big Two more than made up for Bosh's absence, especially James. He continued his pursuit of a third regular-season MVP trophy with yet another strong performance. James shot 8-of-18 from the field, grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and had six assists. The Bulls, playing without injured guard Derrick Rose (ankle), could have clinched the top seed with a victory. They still lead by the race by 1.5 games. Chicago trailed by as many as 13 in the first half before making! a game of it in the fourth quarter. Chicago had four players in double-figures, led by John Lucas' 16 points off the bench. The season-series ends tied at 2. QUOTABLE: "Typical Eastern Conference basketball game in late April. It was a good win. Both teams had to fight though some injuries. Everybody who was out there obviously was competing." -- Spoelstra THE STAT: The Heat held the Bulls to 35 percent shooting, including 2 of 16 from the 3-point line. TURNING POINT: The Heat dominated the last three
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