NBA: Heat steal back home court advantage, as dagger triples bury Bulls

Norris Cole and LeBron James nailed timely three-pointers to keep the Chicago Bulls at arm's length, winning on the road, at the United Center in Chicago, 104-94, Friday (Saturday, PHL time), to take 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinals series.

Chicago had stolen game one at Miami, 93-86, but the Heat blew them out in game two, 115-78, to knot things going into Chicago.

Off a 75-all deadlock at the 9:28 mark of the fourth quarter, Miami went up by seven, 90-83, on charities by Chris Bosh, 90-83, with 3:15 remaining in the game.

Marco Belinelli canned a triple to make it a two-possession game, but James hit a triple right back, to negate the connection.

Carlos Boozer notched his 20th and 21st points off a Joakim Noah assist, but Norris Cole was right there for another trey for an eight-point buffer, 96-88, 1:48 remaining.

Jimmy Butler drew Shane Battier's sixth foul, converting the free throws, but an and-one play by James put the reigning NBA champs up by nine, 99-90, under a minute and a half left.

Two slams by Nate Robinson and Noah gave the Bulls some hope, 99-94, with 43.3 seconds on the clock, but they were forced to foul now, and Ray Allen and LeBron James finished on a 5-of-6 clip at the line, while the Bulls missed three consecutive long-range attempts to close this one out.

LeBron James finished with 25 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals, versus one turnover, while Chris Bosh put in a mighty double-double of 20 points and 19 rebounds, plus two rejections.

Norris Cole came off the bench for 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting, while Dwyane Wade provided 10 markers.

The Bulls were led by the 21 points of Carlos Boozer. Nate Robinson and Jimmy Butler scattered 17 apiece, Marco Belinelli chimed in with 16 points and six assists, while Joakim Noah brought his usual hustle with 15 points, 11 boards, four dimes, two steals and two swats.

Miami's hot shooting continued in this game, with a 50 percent clip from the field, 40 percent from three-point land. - AMD, GMA News