The Heat end the game on an 18-3 run, showing incredible grit when it matters most. They've earned this Eastern Conference championship.
LeBron James finishes with 28 points, Dwyane Wade adds 21, and Chris Bosh chips in 20. The big three turns up bigger than ever.
Derrick Rose finishes with 25 points, eight assists and five rebounds. It's a solid game for him, but he'll undoubtedly spend all summer wondering what he could have done better. For starters: He could have made that free throw.
It's been a spectacular season for the Bulls, who earned the No. 1 seed in the East and reached the conference finals for the first time since the Michael Jordan era. But the magical run ends tonight.
Fourth quarter, 25.0 seconds, Heat 81-80: Derrick Rose just missed the biggest free throw of his life.
The Heat have the lead and the ball. That's the first time since the first quarter, I do believe.
Can they seal the deal?
Fourth quarter, 29.5 seconds, Heat 81-79: LeBron with the steal, LeBron with the iso at the top of key, LeBron with the dagger of an 18-foot jump shot.
The Heat have the lead.
Is this series over?
Fourth quarter, 1:01, 79-79: Sweet merciful lord. That did not just happen.
The Heat have tied the game with a 14-2 run. Dwyane Wade makes a 3 and finishes the four-point play on a Derrick Rose foul (his fifth!), and then LeBron James knocks down another trifecta.
This game's going down to the wire, folks.
We can never again question the clutch acumen of LeBron and/or Wade. Those dudes just earned lifetime passes.
Fourth quarter, 2:07, Bulls 77-72: LeBron James just hit a devastating 3 from the top of the key. That'll cap off a 7-0 run. The Bulls' lead was 12 a moment ago, and it's now five.
Thibs needs another timeout. He's getting nervous.
LeBron has been one of the two greatest clutch performers in this postseason, along with Dirk Nowitzki. If he steps up and leads the Heat to a comeback victory here and now, it'll be one for the ages.
Fourth quarter, 3:53, Bulls 73-64: Ronnie Brewer for 3. That's a dagger through Miami's heart.
Time to pack it up and focus on Saturday. There's no hope with Miami playing like this.
Fourth quarter, 4:19, Bulls 73-64: LeBron James just missed his first free throw in 33 attempts. Too bad. The Heat need every point they can get.
Their offense has been really lousy all night. They need to snap out of this funk, and fast, or we're headed for a Game 6.
Fourth quarter, 7:19, Bulls 69-63: Dwyane Wade with the fadeaway bank shot. Wow, that is just deadly.
The lead is back to six. The Heat are not going down without a hell of a fight.
Timeout, Thibs.
Fourth quarter, 7:43, Bulls 69-61: LeBron James has been in a hellacious shooting slump, but he comes up with two free throws here to keep the Heat somewhat alive in this game.
LeBron is 5-of-16 from the field tonight, but he's made all seven attempts from the line. He's been staggeringly good from the line all series long, in fact.
Fourth quarter, 10:02, Bulls 67-57: Before tonight, Kurt Thomas hadn't played a lick in this series. But then Omer Asik went down, and the veteran Thomas stepped up. He's picking, popping and helping the Bulls push their lead back to double digits.
Thomas' first two points of the series are two big ones. It's 67-57 with 10 minutes to play.
End of third quarter, Bulls 62-57: The Heat are making their charge, aided by a couple big shots and some questionable officiating, but Chicago still leads by five as we head to the fourth quarter.
Derrick Rose has 19 points, seven assists and four rebounds. Luol Deng has 16, six boards and two assists. The Bulls have shot better, rebounded better and taken care of the ball better all night. It's no fluke that they're in position to close this one out.
LeBron James have matching stat lines of 16 points and eight rebounds for Miami.
Third quarter, 3:36, Bulls 58-47: The Heat are having fun with this. Mario Chalmers banks in a ridiculous 3 from the top of the key (and it looks like he wanted four, too). LeBron James sells a brilliant flop on a "collision" with Derrick Rose.
The Heat have all kinds of tricks up their sleeves, but they also have an 11-point deficit. The Bulls are in total control at the moment.
Third quarter, 5:54, Bulls 52-44: Rose responds with the driving layup, humiliating Wade en route to the rim.
Bulls by eight again.
Coach Thibs calls for a timeout. He's got to get the Bulls to step on the Heat's throats while they've got the chance.
Third quarter, 6:51, Bulls 50-44: Dwyane Wade might be coming to life. Look out, Chicago.
D-Wade attacks the basket, scores and draws a foul. He can't complete the three-point play, though, so the Bulls remain up by six.
Wade is now 7-of-9 from the line. He's no Dirk Nowitzki, but he's pretty good.
Third quarter, 9:34, Bulls 47-42: The pendulum swings back again. Now it's Miami's turn to attack the basket, and Chicago's fallen back to its jumper-settling ways. Derrick Rose just bricked another from mid-range. He's now 4-for-12.
The Bulls need to be smart and efficient. They can't let their guard down with a small lead. The Heat have been the more determined team in crunch time throughout this series, which is why they lead it 3-1.
Halftime, Bulls 45-38: LeBron James heaves up a desperation heave for 3 at the buzzer. The game's first half ends the same way it's gone the entire night — with the Heat looking frazzled and unprepared.
The Bulls get 14 points from Luol Deng and a big all-around first half from Derrick Rose — 10 points, five assists, three rebounds and a block — to take a seven-point lead at the break.
LeBron's got 11 points for the Heat. The other two members of the big three have combined for 17 more. But the Bulls have been the more complete, more determined team so far tonight. Game 5 is theirs to lose.
Second quarter, 2:55, Bulls 39-34: Now Mike Miller rattles off a couple shots, and the Heat are right back in it. It's Tom Thibodeau's turn to call a timeout and get his guys refocused.
The Bulls have gotten 10 bench points so far; the Heat have gotten seven, all from the same guy. That would be Miller.
If they're really trying to come back and win this thing, the Heat need to show some depth for a change.
Second quarter, 4:44, Bulls 37-27: Chris Bosh finally snaps the 9-0 Chicago run that had lasted over five minutes, breaking through with an emphatic dunk. But the damage has been done. The Heat are down double digits, and they'll likely be playing panicked for the rest of the night.
The Heat are shooting just 35.7 percent and have committed seven turnovers already. They need to play with more discipline offensively in an elimination game like this.
Second quarter, 7:03, Bulls 33-25: The Heat are now scoreless in the last three minutes. They have just looked awful without LeBron James on the floor, plain and simple.
LeBron has 11 points. The rest of the team has 14.
Who's going to carry the load with the King sitting out? Dwyane Wade hasn't been himself lately. He might not be the guy to trust.
Second quarter, 8:33, Bulls 30-25: The Heat are still settling for jumpers, and not enough of them are falling. After a miss from Udonis Haslem and a defensive rebound from Taj Gibson, we get a full timeout.
The Heat aren't executing. This is a closeout game, and they need to be better. Forget about LeBron James being clutch — this team needs Erik Spoelstra to step up.
Second quarter, 10:12, Bulls 28-23: Kyle Korver just stepped up and knocked down a 3. That's big. The Bulls need to get him going.
Korver entered this game 3-for-11 from long distance in the series. He's got to be better. His outside shot is what keeps opposing defenses honest.
Another interesting bench development for Chicago: We've got a Kurt Thomas sighting. With rookie Omer Asik out with a fractured fibula, the Bulls need another bench big to emerge. Thomas is their guy.
End of first quarter, Bulls 25-21: It's a game of runs, as they always say. The runs so far: 4-0 Bulls, 12-2 Heat, 15-6 Bulls. It takes a 3 from LeBron James on the final possession of the first quarter to keep things close.
The Bulls are up four. Derrick Rose has 10 points, three assists, two rebounds and a block to lead the way for the hosts in this elimination game.
LeBron James has nine points and Dwyane Wade, seven for the Heat.
First quarter, 3:13, Bulls 16-15: Deng with the rebound, and he gets Derrick Rose going for a transition bucket. Now it's a 6-0 run, and the Bulls are back in front.
Deng has six points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal. He's playing with renewed energy, and that could make a huge difference tonight.
First quarter, 3:48, Heat 15-14: Luol Deng cares not for your chasedown, LeBron James. Deng goes to the basket in transition, LeBron slams into him, and Deng finishes anyway. Count it. Basket and the foul.
That'll reignite the United Center crowd. The Bulls needed something to get this building going again.
First quarter, 6:07, Heat 12-6: Deng — turnover. LeBron James — easy transition bucket. Now it's a 12-2 Miami run, and Coach Thibs needs a timeout.
LeBron already has four points, two rebounds, an assist and a steal. He's playing like he wants the quadruple-double.
First quarter, 6:42, Heat 10-6: After a hard foul from Luol Deng, the Heat get the ball back and Dwyane Wade knocks down an impossibly tough fadeaway jumper.
The Heat are rolling. Wade's got six points already, and it's a 10-2 run.
First quarter, 9:16, 4-4: The Heat haven't executed too well so far, but they've lucked into a quick 4-0 run and a tie game.
LeBron James is already chucking contested long jumpers. Tom Thibodeau will let him have those every time.
First quarter, 11:17, Bulls 2-0: After a Dwyane Wade miss on the game's first possession, the Bulls come right back and get a bucket from Derrick Rose to get things started.
The Bulls are off on the right foot. The crowd at the United Center is behind them in a big way. This could be their last game here this season, so the urgency is there.
7:30 p.m.: The big question tonight for the Bulls, who host Game 5 — who else steps up other than Derrick Rose?
Carlos Boozer has been good in flashes but inconsistent. Joakim Noah has been a head case. Luol Deng has been underwhelming.
The Bulls lost Game 4 because they didn't have anyone but Rose to turn to in crunch time. They isolated their MVP for the game-winning shot, and that wasn't cutting it. LeBron James put a body on him and shut him down.
Will someone else come to Rose's aid? If not, here comes summer vacation.
8:30 a.m.: The Chicago Bulls began this best-of-seven Eastern Conference final on the right foot, winning Game 1 by a 103-82 scpre a week and a half ago, behind a solid defensive effort and an explosive game offensively from Derrick Rose.
They've since taken three steps backwards.
After asserting their dominance in the series opener, the Bulls have since fallen behind three games to one against LeBron James, and they're now one loss away from summer vacation. The Bulls were the No. 1 overall seed in this postseason, favored by many to reach their first NBA Finals since Michael Jordan's era, but they're now in desperate need of one win just to stay alive.
The Bulls return home to host the Heat in Game 5 on Thursday night. They tip things off at the United Center at 8:30 p.m.