Bulls observations: Vučević, Theis spearhead win over Heat

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The Bulls got a much-needed, grind-it-out 110-102 road win over the Miami Heat Monday night.

Here are 12 observations:

1. Patrick Williams entered play having scored in single-digits in nine of his last 10 games, so Billy Donovan drew up the Bulls' first play of the night for the rook -- a cut under the basket on which Williams backed down Duncan Robinson, received a pass from Nikola Vučević and banked home an and-one layup. Williams finished a dunk and lobbed a nice pick-and-roll assist to Vučević later in the period to finish his first eight-minute stint with five points and an assist.

2. The Bulls trailed just 26-20 after one, improvement after trailing 33-18 after 12 minutes in game one of this set. But the Heat still dictated tempo, scoring 10 of their points on the fastbreak and five points off four Bulls turnovers. Jimmy Butler, with 10 points, led the way, capitalizing multiple times in transition during a late-quarter stretch in which the Bulls deployed three big men in Thad Young, Lauri Markkanen and Daniel Theis.

3. That unit had its share of tough moments defensively, especially from Markkanen playing out of position at small forward, but Theis and Young got off to strong starts to help buoy the Bulls offensively. Theis scored 11 points in the first half, while Young notched six points, eight assists and three rebounds to ring triple-double watch alarm bells early. Young's ultimate nine assists were the most he's posted in a month, as he found his way into the pocket of the defense more frequently, similar to his short-roll playmaking hub role from earlier in the season. Also adding to the frontcourt frenzy was Vučević, who scored 17 points in the first half to lead all scorers, sniping all four of his 3-point attempts.

4. Switching schemes have confounded the Bulls' offense all season, including Saturday night, but they appeared to adjust in a few areas to jumpstart their offense. Multiple times, they found bigs -- from Theis to Young to Markkanen -- against size mismatches inside for easy buckets. Despite struggling from long-range early, they shot 52.5 percent in the first half and scored 28 points in the paint, taking advantage of a downsized Miami frontcourt that started Trevor Ariza at power forward.

5. The Bulls committed three turnovers in the first three minutes of the third quarter, prompting an early timeout from Donovan after the Heat grew their lead to 59-54. But following a free throw afforded by a Donovan technical, the Bulls ripped a 7-0 run to pull back in front; the two sides traded blows the rest of the period until a late Miami spurt pushed them ahead 82-76 entering the fourth.

6. After falling behind 88-81 early in the fourth, the Bulls forged an 20-9 run over a span of 5 minutes, 12 seconds to pull ahead 101-97 with roughly four minutes to play. That stretch was spurred by big catch-and-shoot 3-pointers from Coby White (who finished with 17 points after missing six of his first seven shots) and Garrett Temple, and they expanded their lead to 104-99 moments later off a corner triple by Markkanen (12 points, 5-for-11 shooting).

7. There were a few late-game heroes in this one, but Theis takes the cake. He scored 10 of his Bulls-tenure-high 23 points (10-for-13 shooting) in the fourth, and, for good measure, tallied 12 rebounds, five assists and two blocks for the game. His presence on both ends was as all-encompassing as it was essential -- he spearheaded a scrappy defensive possession by blocking Bam Adebayo to keep the Bulls' lead at four with just under four minutes to play, and converted a tip-in putback to make the score 106-102 with just under two minutes remaining.

8. Vučević, too, was typically brilliant, posting 24 points and 11 rebounds for his 10th double-double in 18 games as a Bull. He entered play averaging 25.8 points, 13 rebounds and 4.5 assists (52.6 percent from the field, 41.9 percent from 3) against the Heat in four previous meetups this season. His contributions mean the Bulls' starting frontcourt combined for 47 points and 23 rebounds.

9. Donovan closed the contest with a three-big lineup that featured Vučević, Markkanen (who played 16 massive minutes in the second half) and Theis, with White and Temple staffing the backcourt. There were scares -- like a Butler steal that ended in a smoked fastbreak layup with less than a minute to play -- but they ultimately held on to pick up a much-needed, clutch-time victory against a winning team, all rarities this season.

10. In the third quarter, Butler drew "MVP!" chants at American Airlines Arena for his performance, which featured 33 points, five assists, two steals and 11 free-throw attempts (though he scored just two points in the fourth). For a while, Butler threatened to out-attempt the Bulls from the line, but they ratcheted their attempts up in the fourth to finish with 22.

11. Butler, Ariza (18 points, four 3-pointers) and Bam Adebayo (23 points) were the host's only consistent sources of offense. Heat players not of that triumvirate combined for 28 points, and the Bulls won the bench-points battle 28-17.

12. This was a two-way effort the Bulls can be proud of. Though they committed 18 turnovers (off which Miami scored 20 points), they slung 33 assists, and with hot shooting late (5-for-9 from deep in the fourth quarter), cleared 53 percent from the field and 37 percent from 3. That's their 17th 30-plus assist game of the season. On the other end, they dominated the glass (51-34) and bothered the Heat into sluggish shooting results.

Standings update: The Wizards fell short of a franchise-record-tying nine straight wins by falling to the Spurs in overtime. The Raptors, meanwhile, drubbed the Cavaliers. So with the Bulls' win, they pull within one game of the Wizards for the last spot in the play-in and remain tied with the Raptors. The Bulls own the tiebreaker over both. Those ripples helped make this one pretty close to a must-win, especially given the Bulls' grueling schedule ahead, and they got it.

Next up: Wednesday at the New York Knicks to cap off their current three-game road trip.

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