Lucas helps lift Bulls to victory Scores 24 in relief of idle Rose in triumph over Heat

By K.C. Johnson, Chicago Tribune reporter

March 15, 2012

If the Bulls and Heat travel what many consider their ultimate collision course to reprise last season's Eastern Conference finals, the rivalry's storyline played out in tidy fashion after just one quarter Wednesday night at United Center.

LeBron James and Dwyane Wade scored all of the Heat's points. All five starters, which didn't feature Derrick Rose because he sat with his sore groin, scored for the Bulls.

Depth vs. star power.

And for the first time since grabbing Game 1 of those Eastern Conference finals, depth prevailed.

The Bulls received a huge bench effort led by Rose's replacement, John Lucas III, to outlast the Heat 106-102 and build a 31/2-game lead in the East.

"Beauty of sports, man," Joakim Noah said. "Nobody ever would have thought we would win a game like this, especially without Derrick. But we believe in each other and that's why this feels good. I'm not going to lie: It feels great.

"It's important not to get overexcited as well. But overall, we played hard. I know the city is pretty excited right now."

With Rose out, Luol Deng returned expectedly from his two-game absence to rest his ailing left wrist. C.J. Watson did the same, albeit unexpectedly, after missing five games with a sprained left ankle.

"It just shows what this team is all about," Noah said. "We needed those guys. They come back and played for the team. It shows we're about the right things."

Watson shook off an awkward takeoff on a first-quarter drive that he said re-aggravated the injury to finish with 11 points. Deng said he felt fine pregame though he winced often and continued to dribble with strictly his right hand while shooting 4-for-13.

It's clear Deng isn't the same player.

"It's tough man," he said. "As the game goes on, you forget about it until you get whacked or fall. It's really my first time playing with this injury. So as time goes on, I think I'll get better with it.

"But if you see my game, I'm adjusting it. I have to find ways to try to do other things that I'm not capable of doing now."

Lucas' team-high 24 points featured a career-high three 3-pointers as the Bulls shot 10-for-19 from that distance. And his output aided a ridiculous 56-15 edge in bench points.

No Lucas basket will be more memorable than his step-back jumper over James with 4 minutes, 16 seconds remaining after James had switched onto him. That's a move normally reserved for Rose.

"I was just saying, 'I'm not going to back off. I'm going to stay aggressive and play my game,'" Lucas said.

The Heat wouldn't go away as Wade went nuts in the fourth with 19 of his 36 points. Then James Jones followed four Kyle Korver free throws with back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 104-102. So, naturally, Lucas strolled to the line with six seconds left and iced matters by knocking down both.

"He came out with a lot of energy," Noah said. "I just liked his style out there. He was tough. He got us all going. It wasn't just his scoring. It was his swag. It was mean. I liked it."

With Rose sporting a snazzy suit on the bench, the question became: How much stock to put in the outcome of a regular-season matchup between the conference's two best teams?

After all, the Bulls swept the three-game season series last year before falling in five games in the conference finals. And this season's first meeting featured Deng and Watson sitting, while Rose and Richard Hamilton skipped this one.