Miami Heat fans, I have good news, and I have bad news.
The good news is the Miami Heat hammered the Chicago Bulls 112-91 in the play-in game to secure the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.
Bad news is the Heat visit the No.1 seed 64 win Boston Celtics without Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier.
“Our team appreciates what the bench does in doing all the dirty work,” Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
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Heat outscored the Bulls bench 42-24.
Tyler Herro scored 24 points and was an assist shy of a triple-double.
DeMar DeRozan scored 22 points for the Bulls, who shot only 38 percent and were down by 29.
“They came out and did what they were supposed to,” DeRozan said. “They Played extremely hard, played together, physical, aggressive and were more hungry out the gate.”
Chicago missed 14 of 15 shots in one stretch.
The chants were heard in the fourth quarter. “We want Boston.”
Kevin Love scored 16, and Bam Adebayo added 13 for Miami. The Heat are the No. 8 seed again, just like last year when they survived the play-in and went to the NBA Finals.
The Heat are expected to be huge underdogs against a Celtics team that is the big favorite to win the NBA title.
Game one is Sunday in Boston.
