Chicago Bulls vs Miami Heat

The United Center hosts the NBA play-in tournament match between the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat who seek to extend their chances at playoff qualification on Thursday.

Both teams completed their regular season at ninth and tenth positions in the Eastern Conference with Chicago Bulls achieving 39-43 victories and Miami Heat finishing with 34-45.

Major implications will come from this match because the winner faces off with the Atlanta Hawks or Orlando Magic in the Play-in tournament while the loser exits from the postseason.

The Chicago Bulls look for better fortunes since this stands as their third play-in round match against this opponent where they suffered losses both times.

Chicago maintains valid hopes for the match because they started the regular season with a 3-0 sweep against this opponent and will play their outings at home court.

The home team built by Billy Donovan posted an 18-23 record at United Center but achieved a victory against Miami Heat 119-111 in this venue just before the playoffs began as Josh Giddey produced a stellar performance with 28 points and 16 rebounds and 11 assists in the game.

The Bulls display their strongest asset in offensive gameplay by maintaining the sixth-best points-per-game mark (117.8) in the NBA but have shown poor defensive performance by allowing the third-highest number of points (119.4) against them.

The Miami Heat demonstrated their experience in the NBA play-in tournament in 2023 when they brought down the Bulls to advance through playoffs up to the finals versus the Denver Nuggets.

Erik Spoelstra and company, however, have had a difficult 2024–25 season since they had to make the difficult decision to trade Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors, and they may not have looked the same since he left.

Miami's record during the All-Star Break is 12-17, which is far worse than the Bulls' respective records of 17-10 and 15-7 over the same time frame. during March 1, Miami's record has dropped to 9-15.

Notwithstanding their difficulties, the Heat have a top-tier defense that gives up just 110.0 points per game, which is the seventh-best in the NBA, and scores 110.6 points per game, which is the 24th-best in the league.