JOIN USThe Chicago Bulls suffered their worst ever playoff defeat on Wednesday to the Miami Heat but took comfort in having stolen homecourt advantage from the defending champions.
A depleted Bulls team split the opening two games of the series and, despite Miami's brutally spectacular 115-78 win on Wednesday, remain defiant as the Eastern Conference semifinals now shifts to the Windy City for the next two games.
"We got punched in the mouth," said Bulls center Joakim Noah, who was ejected in Wednesday's game where, at one stage, Chicago trailed by 46 points. "We'll be back; we'll be back in two days. That game isn't going anywhere. The ball is going to go up and we'll be there.’’
"We came here and we did our job. We won a game; we got the homecourt (back),’’ he added.
The series resumes at Chicago's "Madhouse on Madison" on Friday and the Heat's LeBron James understands why the Bulls will not be too deflated by their recent thrashing.
While the Heat's dominance on both sides of the ball in Game Two bode well for their chances of making a third straight trip to the Eastern Conference final, the physical nature of Wednesday's clash is likely to continue.
The Bulls had Noah and Taj Gibson ejected in the fourth quarter with Gibson, who left the court yelling abuse at the officials, likely to face a fine.
But while Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau was disappointed that his players lost their composure.
he was dismissive of the suggestion that the game had been chippy and said he expected his team to match the Heat physically.