An analysis of Thursday night’s Miami Heat-Chicago Bulls

Observations and other notes of interest from Thursday night’s 116-113 victory over the Chicago Bulls:

– No excuses.

– Heat coach Erik Spoelstra made that clear 90 minutes before the opening tip.

– So enough resolve for a needed victory.

– Barely.

– The Heat not only had to add a pair of back-to-backs to their schedule to accommodate the rescheduling of the Jan. 8 game at the United Center that was postponed by condensation on the court, but then were delayed 90 minutes with their overnight flight after Wednesday night’s home loss to the Magic.

– The upshot was a hotel arrival in the 4 a.m. hour for the second time in a week (there also was a delay over the weekend from Salt Lake City to Phoenix).

– Spoelstra stressed pregame there was no need to complain about the scheduling.

– “It actually made sense,” he said of Thursday as the makeup date. “You know, we looked at it. There were a couple of other different dates. This one looked like it made the most sense. And it’s fair for both sides. They’re coming off the back-to-back, so are we. So there’s nothing to complain about.”

– Spoelstra added, “You know, this is a great life we live, to jump on a chartered flight with a great meal. Yeah, we came in pretty late. There’s a lot of worse things in life. You know, we love what we do. We love the challenge. We love competing.”

– With the game the first of three in a row against the Bulls, it is the first time the same two teams have faced each other and only each other in a three-game span since Nov. 28-Dec. 1, 1972, when the Baltimore Bullets played the Houston Rockets (with the first first two games on neutral floor in San Antonio).

– So ragged and rugged for a pair of teams playing on the second nights of back-to-back sets.

– And almost all of a 13-point fourth-quarter lead blown.

– But you take it and move on.

– To play the Bulls.

– And then play the Bulls again.

– The Heat improved to 8-3 on the second nights of back-to-back sets, with this concluding one set and then another over the weekend against the Bulls in Miami.

– “Hopefully it’s just embracing the challenge, not making an excuse for travel and different things,” Spoelstra said. “I think these are opportunities to really grow and develop some grit during an NBA season.”

– With Davion Mitchell missing his seventh game with a shoulder sprain, the Heat again opened with a lineup of Bam Adebayo, Norman Powell, Andrew Wiggins, Pelle Larsson and Kasparas Jakucionis.

– That lineup entered 3-2.

– It was Larsson’s 26th start.

– And he again was a difference-maker, scoring the Heat’s final points.

– This time Kel’el Ware was first off the Heat bench, playing ahead of Nikola Jovic.

– Jaime Jaquez Jr. followed.

– And then Dru Smith, after Jakucionis was called for his second foul midway through the opening period.

– With Simone Fontecchio making it nine deep, as Jovic waited, before entering as 10th man.

– But in the end, it was Jovic with more closing minutes than Ware.

– Who only played 12 minutes.

– Spoelstra again stressed pregame that pace remains a priority, even with the struggles to match it up with offensive efficiency.

– “I would rather have that kind of explosiveness and work on the efficiency,” he said. “We couldn’t do that last year.”

– He then added the now familiar, “Probably like a lot of teams where we are, it’s about consistency. That’s what we’re working on.”

– Heat killer Josh Giddey was out in his return from a hamstring strain, putting his status in question for the two weekend games in the rematches in Miami.

– “They want to make sure they can clear the tightness up, because I think they worry about it going from one thing to the next,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. “I don’t know his return.”

– Donovan added. “There has not been any setback. He didn’t re-strain or anything like that. It’s just a matter of how long it will take for them to remove the tightness, where he can really just play without it.”

– The back-to-back was only the second of the season for the Bulls’ Coby White, with his minutes monitored.

– “They’d like us to keep him between 28 to 30 as best we can,” Donovan said.

– Donovan said Friday’s day off could determine the weekend approaches with Giddey and White.

– “I think tomorrow will be an important day,” he said. “One, to see how Josh responds from treatment and things that he did working out. And then to see how Coby comes out of this game, as well, just to see where those guys are at.”

– And, yes, next Thursday’s NBA trading deadline is on the mind of the Bulls, as well.

– “I haven’t heard anything in terms of what may or may not happen at the deadline,” Donovan said, “but I do think that when you look at that situation, a lot of it, it’s got to be a partner and the deal’s got to make sense and you’ve got to feel like it’s benefiting your team. The other team involved wants to make it feel like they’re benefiting their team.”

– He added, “Sometimes deals are hard to come by. You can have a lot of thoughts of what you may or may not want to do, but sometimes you have to have someone that’s going to be a partner with you to be able to do those things.”