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00:01And the officials today are Dick Favetta, Jack Neese, and Ron Garrison.
00:06Miami controlling the opening tip and this third game underway.
00:12The champ of Let's Go Heat, Alonzo Mourning.
00:18Took a couple of extra steps.
00:20First of all, the Heat have come out with a lot of bounce in their step, quick with their execution.
00:24And that is Alonzo Mourning's favorite move, taking the ball across the lane.
00:29Got a little bump from Luke Longley to knock him off balance and force that turnover.
00:33And Alonzo is turnover prone.
00:35Jamal Mashburn defending on Scottie Pippen.
00:38Rashawn Leonard opening on Michael Jordan.
00:40They try to go to Michael.
00:42And a holding foul.
00:45It is on Leonard.
00:47Right off the bat, the Chicago Bulls trying to take advantage of the aggressive overcommitment on defense.
00:53Luke Longley with not a real sharp pass there, but a good aggressive foul that time by Bashawn Leonard.
00:59I would look for the Bulls to go inside of Luke Longley early, see if he can't pick up a couple fouls on Mourning.
01:04Ron Hoffer's in a couple of key three-point shots.
01:08Able to brush off Hardaway on the pick.
01:11And they lost it.
01:12And they were, in fact, looking for Luke Longley on the weak side.
01:17But Alonzo Mourning smelled it out very nicely and got around and fronted Luke Longley to prevent any kind of entry pass.
01:24Leonard played by Jordan.
01:26Brown given the room by Rodman.
01:29And here's Hardaway, rejected and fouled.
01:34Foul on the Bulls.
01:37Well, the Miami Heat so successful during the regular season at home.
01:44And in the playoffs, six up and one down at home.
01:48And on the road, one and six, although they have been an excellent road team.
01:52They have the best road record over the course of the regular season.
01:56You can see that point differential home and away.
01:59Ron Hoffer called for the foul to put Tim Hardaway at the line.
02:03And the ironic thing there is the last couple of years in Miami,
02:06he'd have complained about this home crowd, first of all, for not showing up in sellout-type numbers,
02:11but also turning on the team very quickly when things don't go well.
02:16Miami 32-9 here.
02:20Should say on the road, 32-9, but they have gone the opposite way in the playoffs.
02:27Here's Jordan.
02:29Hoffer going to the goal.
02:31Rodman able to pick it up.
02:34Longley played by Brown.
02:36Get up.
02:40Well, the Bulls are off to a slow start.
02:43A minute and a half gone by.
02:45These two clubs come off the 75-68 game on Thursday, the lowest-scoring playoff game since the inception of the 24-second clock back in 1955.
02:59And the Bulls old for their first three.
03:01Both teams have been very reluctant to give the other a lot of credit for the defense.
03:06They're both saying that they're just missing shots, but this defense is overly aggressive.
03:11And that was, uh, that was more than a miss.
03:14An ugly start here in Miami.
03:18Rodman trying to keep it alive.
03:21Bulls have missed their first five shots.
03:24Hit it!
03:24And that'll get this crowd going, and that's what the Heat have to do.
03:34Get out and run.
03:35Get easy baskets.
03:37Get some confidence.
03:38And then those jumpers will be a lot easier.
03:40Now, P.J. Brown did not score at all.
03:44And you can't!
03:45And Scottie!
03:46Pippen able to put it down for the Bulls' first field goal.
03:50It took two and a half minutes.
03:52And that shot was challenged.
03:53Even though Pippen got around, mashed for an easy enough.
03:56Alonzo Warren challenged him.
03:58Brown on the back tap, but handled by Longley.
04:04Game three of the Eastern Conference Final.
04:07Chicago up two games to nothing of the best of seven.
04:10Game four here in Miami on Monday afternoon on NBC.
04:15Hawthorne drives from three-point range.
04:18On the way with Leonard running the floor, but he goes the other way.
04:22And mashed for a three for Jamal Mashburn.
04:28You see what I mean, Byron?
04:30Even though it wasn't Mashburn who got that earlier layup, it was P.J. Brown.
04:34But it just lifts everybody else when they see the ball going in the basket.
04:37It hasn't happened very much for either of these two teams so far in the first two games.
04:43And Chicago has hit only one of its first seven shots.
04:47Shot clock at three, two, one.
04:50Pippen!
04:51Rodman able to collect that offensive ball.
04:55But what is happening to Chicago, they're not able to execute their offense.
04:59And Michael Jordan or Scottie Pippen, winding up with the ball with about four, three seconds on the shot clock.
05:04Forced to take some bad shots.
05:07Now Jordan with the ball by Hardaway.
05:09The spin by Jordan.
05:15He beat Hardaway.
05:16And then Mourning for his first field goal.
05:20Heat seven.
05:21And the ball is four.
05:24Mourning.
05:27Leonard for three.
05:30And back up the ball.
05:31Open shot.
05:45Miami with a one-point advantage.
05:48Even though the Bulls come away with a field goal there, they had a pretty good running opportunity.
05:52But you just saw the Chicago team just loping into the frontcourt instead of really putting on a sprint and attacking the lanes to create a good scoring opportunity.
06:02They're just not running hard enough.
06:04And throughout this series, the Miami Heat have not run hard enough.
06:08Traveling.
06:09Violation.
06:10And it gives the ball back to Chicago.
06:18Five minutes gone by in this first quarter.
06:20And the Heat seven.
06:22And the ball six.
06:23Here's Pippen with the dropping hook.
06:25And he thought he was fouled.
06:27Scotty Pippen going last.
06:29And he's given the Bulls a one-point lead.
06:34Timeout taken by Miami.
06:37So after the slow start by Chicago, one of their first three, they're showing some signs.
06:43Well, the Miami Heat certainly falling off over the first two games of this series.
06:52Take a look at what these guys did during the regular season.
06:54And then the drop-off the first two games.
06:57And today, down to zip, they are in a must-win mode.
07:00What is the mental approach of the Miami Heat?
07:03What do they have to do to get back into it?
07:04We ask that of Tim Hardaway.
07:05We're at home.
07:09Let's get out and run.
07:10Let's get out and play good defense.
07:12Don't give them nothing on defense.
07:14Don't bag down.
07:16The referees call fouls.
07:17So be it.
07:19But don't bag down.
07:20Make them work for everything.
07:22Rebound on defensive end.
07:23Get out and run.
07:24Get open shots.
07:25Get easy shots.
07:26And when we're in the set, let's execute on the offensive end and make sure we get a shot every time down.
07:33Don't turn the ball over.
07:34That's what we're thinking today.
07:37Well, Pat Riley has sold his team on a positive approach.
07:41And rightly so, saying, all right, Chicago did what they were supposed to do.
07:44Win the two games there.
07:46Now, all we have to do is win our two games on this floor, preferably game three, rather than take the daunting approach.
07:53Hey, we've got to beat the Chicago Bulls four out of five times.
07:56You certainly don't want to look at it that way.
07:58Rod Harper just picked up a second foul, replaced by Randy Brown.
08:02Leonard able to keep it alive, and Miami gets the new 24.
08:07The Bulls eight and the Heat seven.
08:10Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, accounting for all eight Chicago points.
08:15Mashburn, when he moves on Pippen, he stays with him.
08:18Mashburn to the phone around.
08:20Hardaway back.
08:25Picking up Jordan.
08:28Long leg.
08:30And Brown for the rebound.
08:33Well, you can tell that in that huddle, Phil Jackson telling his team,
08:35hey, Morning is leaving Luke Lawley to try to help out.
08:38So keep an eye out for Luke.
08:40We'll get some open shots.
08:42Good play by Brown, but saved by the Heat.
08:45Morning passed on the shot, and again is called for the traveling violation.
08:50Well, the Chicago Bulls, and in particular, Luke Longley making a conscious effort of forcing Alonzo Morning to his left.
08:57He is not very comfortable with that ball in the left hand.
09:00And there you see, a little bit of confusion, the shuffling of the feet.
09:05Three turnovers for Miami, all three.
09:08Come on, come on.
09:09Predator to Morning.
09:11Brown trying to save it.
09:13Take a 20, but he had stepped out of bounds, according to Dick Pavetta.
09:17So the ball back to the Heat.
09:19Now, Randy Brown is a very tough, aggressive defensive player, and he will battle you,
09:24but he does have a problem keeping you from penetrating to the basket.
09:27And, of course, Tim Hardaway, one of the best penetrators in the business.
09:31You get the idea that the officials are not as quick to give players that 20-second timeout on the extreme situations.
09:40Yeah, they're looking at their feet more to see if they step on the line.
09:43I think a lot of people, a lot of people in the NBA, don't like that call,
09:47and I don't think a lot of the officials like it either.
09:49So you're right.
09:49They will look for any excuse not to give it to them.
09:53We could see a change in the use of that rule.
09:57Off the steal.
09:59Handled by Brown, who got it to Hardaway.
10:01The Heat have not scored the last three and a half minutes.
10:04The Bulls eight, the Heat seven.
10:07Five minutes to go.
10:09Committed by Longley.
10:13Well, coming off what we saw in Game 2 Thursday night in Chicago,
10:17there was hope that things would pick up at the offensive end.
10:20No signs to this point here in the first quarter.
10:23And I think in this case, so far, you have to give it to the defense.
10:27Ball is being pressured.
10:30Everybody's bending their knees, battling, getting away with enough physical contact as they can.
10:35And the problems continue for Alonzo Mourning at the free throw line.
10:40Seven for 15 in Game 1, four for six in Game 2.
10:44And when he came into the NBA as a rookie, look at that, 78%.
10:47And then all of a sudden, in 1996, it left him.
10:51Nobody really knows the reason.
10:52But talking with Pat Riley yesterday, he said,
10:55this will be a major project come this summer to try to find out what is wrong with Alonzo Mourning's foul shot
11:01and get it improved.
11:03Miami overall in Game 2 picked up the free throw shooting as a team 15 of 18 at the line.
11:11Game tied at 8 with 440 left.
11:14And the first, Randy Brown, trying to become more offensive this season,
11:20missing on those two opportunities.
11:21With John Leonard, able to find Jamal Mastrock for three.
11:28And Dennis Rodman with his third rebound.
11:31And the grimace on the face of Pat Riley.
11:33But this Miami team lives and thrives on that three-pointer.
11:37They can make more than any other team in the league.
11:40But you'd like a better shot than the three in transition,
11:43especially with the way that the Heat have been shooting the ball.
11:46Foul committed by Leonard.
11:47That is his second.
11:48Now you see that look of disgust on Pat Riley.
11:52Of course, we would have seen a totally different look had Jamal Mastrock made that three-point shot.
12:01Now Jordan over Leonard.
12:03And the box out by Brown.
12:06So Michael Jordan, 2 for 5 from the field.
12:09And Kyle Jordan came over to help.
12:16And there's an interesting switch.
12:20Dennis Rodman trying to cool down a teammate.
12:22Keeping Luke Longley away after Longley was called for his second personal.
12:26Well, for the last year or two, that has been Luke Longley's job to try to control Dennis Rodman.
12:31And Luke Longley is upset because in transition, what Alonzo Mourning done is run right down the middle of the floor,
12:38get right in front of the rim.
12:39And he wants to take that position, cover up his defender,
12:43and he put a little extra into it to bump off Luke Longley.
12:46And that's why Luke was upset.
12:48And Luke Longley starting to bark at the official,
12:53which has become a common occurrence during these playoffs.
12:56And Dennis Rodman, the model of control and poise.
13:00Settle down, big fella.
13:02I tell you, Matt, that Dennis really has a way of settling people down.
13:09The Bulls, incidentally, have not scored in almost three minutes.
13:14Alonzo continues his difficulties at the foul line.
13:17Miami now with a 9-8 lead.
13:19We're just under four minutes remaining.
13:21In this first quarter, Pippen off the head.
13:24Called Gary Longley.
13:26Gary Longley.
13:27Oh, the outside official, Jack Neese, with that call.
13:31If you remember back in the beginning of the season,
13:33the officials were trying to call that a lot.
13:36They were calling out on Allen Iverson early.
13:38Every once in a while, Michael Jordan will do a little bit of that.
13:41Patrick Ewing does it quite a bit.
13:43Tim Hardaway is doing it right now.
13:45Matt making a lot of friends around the NBA.
13:48Keith Askins has come on.
13:50Replacing Bershon Leonard who went out after picking up a second foul.
13:55Mike Byrne dribbling to the crowd.
13:57Stolen by Brown.
13:57He has a three-on-one.
13:59Well, he lost it.
14:01Yes, and it counts.
14:06Foul committed by Askins.
14:08And Michael Jordan will go to the line.
14:11A lot of teamwork involved on this play.
14:14Dennis Robin doing an outstanding defensive job of stepping over, taking the bump, of course, flopping.
14:20Randy Brown in a little bit of trouble here, trying to locate the dribble, but still does the wise thing.
14:24At least get the shot up.
14:26He didn't.
14:27It got blocked.
14:27But Michael Jordan taking nothing for granted, following up on the play.
14:34Jordan with seven points.
14:38And the Bulls now lead 11-9.
14:41Miami just 2 of 10 from the field.
14:46Chicago 5 for 16.
14:49All the way to the better trade.
14:52Morning at 2.
14:54With his second field goal, and he's tied the game at 11.
15:00And Alonzo Mourning gets a lot of credit on that play, first of all.