Short-handed Heat falls to injury-depleted Bulls in ugly home loss. Takeaways and details
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 125-118 loss to the Chicago Bulls (24-25) on Saturday night at Kaseya Center to kick off another back-to-back set. The Heat (26-24) again hosts the Bulls on Sunday to complete the back-to-back (6 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun and WPLG Local 10):
Even against an injury-depleted Bulls team, the Heat couldn’t overcome its own injury issues and third-quarter struggles in an ugly home loss.
The Heat was missing three starters, as guards Tyler Herro (ribs), Davion Mitchell (left shoulder sprain) and Norman Powell (personal reasons) were all sidelined on Saturday.
The Bulls were also without three starters, as Josh Giddey (hamstring injury management), Nikola Vucevic (rest) and Coby White (calf injury management) were all held out of Saturday’s game.
The Bulls were also missing Zach Collins (toe sprain), Noa Essengue (shoulder surgery), Tre Jones (hamstring strain) and Jalen Smith (calf tightness).
But the Bulls were the team that overcame its injury issues on Saturday, rallying from an 11-point third-quarter deficit to earn its first win over the Heat this season.
The Heat, which entered with the NBA’s 26th-ranked net rating in the third quarter this season, was outscored 35-21 in another dismal third period. Miami has now been outscored in eight straight third quarters.
That 14-point advantage in the third period was enough for the Bulls to turn a seven-point halftime deficit into a seven-point lead entering the fourth quarter.
After totaling just six points on 1-of-8 shooting from the field and 0-of-4 shooting from three-point range through the first three quarters, Heat captain and center Bam Adebayo exploded for 15 points in the final period to bring the Heat back from a nine-point fourth quarter deficit to tie the score four times over the final 3:38.
But the Heat couldn’t complete the fourth-quarter comeback.
After Heat forward Andrew Wiggins made a corner three-pointer while being fouled to tie the score at 116 with 1:20 to play, Wiggins missed the ensuing free throw and the Bulls closed the game on a 9-2 run to earn the win.
Matas Buzelis (11 fourth-quarter points) and Ayo Dosunmu (10) combined for 21 fourth-quarter points for the Bulls.
Dosunmu led the Bulls with a game-high 29 points on 11-of-16 shooting from the field and 5-of-6 shooting on threes.
The Bulls overcame 24 turnovers with the help of 52.3 percent shooting from the field and 20-of-40 (50 percent) shooting from three-point range on Saturday. Chicago also outscored Miami 34-25 in fast-break points.
“They made shots,” Adebayo said. “They had got guys out there with the freedom of guys being out, and that can be deadly for any team. And it cost us tonight.”
With the short-handed Bulls playing smaller lineups, they ran off makes and misses to make it an ultra-fast game. Saturday’s contest was played at a speedy pace of 114 possessions per 48 minutes for the fastest-paced game of the Heat’s season.
“This was a frenetic pace,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “The pace felt more like a game where both teams would be in the 140s. We were just getting beat off the dribble or beat in the post.”
Meanwhile, the Heat struggled to make shots.
Miami shot just 43.2 percent from the field and 13 of 48 (27.1 percent) from behind the arc in Saturday’s loss. The Heat also ran into its own sloppy play, committing 19 turnovers.
Pelle Larsson scored a team-high 22 points for the Heat.
Adebayo added 21 points, but on inefficient shooting. He shot 7 of 18 from the field and 1 of 8 on threes.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. contributed 20 points, six rebounds and seven assists off the Heat’s bench.
“It’s not about talent,” Adebayo said of losing to the undermanned Bulls. “It’s about who wants to do the little things. You know, 50-50 balls, crashing the glass, getting the extra possessions, and then obviously live with that type of result. And I feel like they did the little things that got them the W tonight.”
Second-year center Kel’el Ware again played very limited minutes off the Heat’s bench.
Ware was limited to just two points and one rebound in just 3:11 on Saturday. His only action of the game came in the first quarter, as he spent the rest of the night on the Heat’s bench.
“This is not an indictment on Kel’el. This game was so fast,” Spoelstra said of his decision to bench Ware for the final three quarters of Saturday’s contest “They were playing small forwards at center. Their advantage was the speed and the quickness and all that, in my opinion. It was just not a typical game. I even felt like, we maybe should have downsized a little bit. Any advantage they had with speed, they made us pay for. And that had nothing to do with Kel’el.”
After the Heat was outscored by two points in three minutes during Ware’s first-quarter stint as the backup center, usual forward Nikola Jovic was used as the backup center when Adebayo went to the bench in the second quarter for his second rest of the night.
Jovic was also used as the backup center during Adebayo’s rests in the second half.
“I mean, I can’t control it,” Ware said of Spoelstra’s decision. “I mean, it is what it is. I mean, whatever he feels like that he perceives or feels like playing. Like I said, it is what it is.”
It’s just the continuation of a recent trend for Ware, who has had his playing time cut recently.
Ware has now made nine straight appearances off the bench after starting in 27 of his first 37 appearances this season. He has also played under 20 minutes in each of those nine games as a reserve, including just seven minutes in Wednesday’s loss to the Orlando Magic, 12 minutes in Thursday’s win over the Bulls and just three minutes in Saturday’s loss to the Bulls.
Ware, 21, was part of a Heat bench rotation that also included Jaquez, Dru Smith, Simone Fontecchio and Nikola Jovic on Saturday.
The Heat’s injury issues led to two-way contract forward Myron Gardner getting the first NBA start of his career.
With three starters unavailable in Herro, Mitchell and Powell, Gardner started Saturday’s game alongside Kasparas Jakucionis, Larsson, Wiggins and Adebayo. It marked the Heat’s 15th different starting lineup through 50 games this season.
Gardner, who has impressed as a reserve recently with his relentless energy and aggressiveness, recorded 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field, 1-of-2 shooting on threes and 3-of-5 shooting from the foul line, 11 rebounds and two steals in 23 minutes on Saturday. He has now logged double-digit minutes in eight of the last 23 games after not playing double-digit minutes in any of the Heat’s first 27 games of the season.
“I love the way he competes,” Spoelstra said of Gardner following his first NBA start. “It’s not easy being thrown in that situation.”
Gardner, 24, went undrafted in 2023 out of Little Rock and signed a two-way contract with the Heat this past offseason after shining for Miami in summer league.
Two-way contracts, which pay half the NBA rookie minimum and do not count toward the salary cap or luxury tax, allow for players to be on their NBA team’s active list for as many as 50 regular-season games with other game action having to come in the G League. Two-way deals can be swapped at any time and do not come with playoff eligibility.
The Heat’s other two two-way contract players — center Vlad Goldin and guard Jahmir Young — were also with the team on Saturday. But they did not play in the game, with Goldin not even in uniform for the contest.
There’s still no clear timetable for Herro’s return.
Herro missed his ninth straight game because of a rib injury on Saturday. It also marked the 39th game that Herro has been unavailable for through the first 50 games of the Heat’s season.
Herro missed the first 17 games of the season due to offseason ankle surgery, 13 games because of a toe contusion and now nine games because of a rib contusion.
This comes after Herro remained healthy enough to play in a career-high 77 games last regular season to earn his first NBA All-Star Game appearance.
“There are things that sometimes happen for players in this league that you can’t control,” Spoelstra said before Saturday’s game when asked about Herro’s injury issues this season. “The one thing I do know about Tyler after spending so many years with him is he has resolve, he has grit. He fights through and focuses on the things that he can control. Right now it’s just getting healthy and then he’ll put in the work to get ready. I’ve always admired that quality about him.”
Herro, who is eligible for an extension this upcoming offseason, has averaged 21.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and one steal per game while shooting 49.7% from the field and 35.8% from three-point range in his 11 appearances this season.
The Heat and Bulls will do it again on Sunday.
The Heat hosts the Bulls on Sunday to complete this rare three-game set, with Miami and Chicago facing off in three straight games in a span of four days. The Heat defeated the Bulls in Chicago on Thursday, lost to the Bulls in Miami on Saturday and then face off for the third and final time in Miami on Sunday.
While back-to-back games against the same team is not unusual during the NBA regular season, this marks the first time in franchise history that the Heat has taken on the same opponent in three straight regular-season games.
In fact, this three-game set between the Heat and Bulls marks the first time that two teams have played three straight regular-season games against each other since the Baltimore Bullets and Houston Rockets did it in 1972.
This odd scheduling quirk happened because a Jan. 8 game at United Center between the Heat and Bulls was postponed and later rescheduled for this past Thursday.
This story was originally published January 31, 2026 at 10:52 PM.
