Chicago ? The assignment was tough enough for the Chicago Bulls: cope with Shaquille O’Neal’s power, contain versatile Dwyane Wade and control Eddie Jones’ shooting.
Throw in a surprise 23-point effort from veteran reserve Christian Laettner and the Miami Heat had way too many options for the Bulls to deal with Friday night.
“Christian Laettner played Duke basketball. I guess we need Coach (Mike) Krzyzewski in the stands all of the time,” O’Neal said after Miami’s 105-81 victory.
With Duke’s current basketball team watching from the seats before playing Valparaiso on Saturday at the United Center, Laettner, the former Blue Devils star, made 10-of-13 shots.
Laettner had 11 points in the fourth quarter as the Heat pulled away during a stretch in which O’Neal was on the bench with his fourth foul.
“It was just fun to have some success in the fourth quarter,” said the 35-year-old Laettner, playing in just his sixth game this season after being slowed by a sore knee. “I haven’t been in that situation in a while, maybe a year. So it felt good.”
Jones added 21 points, and O’Neal had 18 as the Miami Heat moved the ball around the floor and shot 50.6 percent.
Jones was 7-of-11 and made three 3-pointers for the Heat. Wade scored 15 points, had 10 rebounds and eight assists.
Kirk Hinrich scored 17 points, but was scoreless in the second half, and rookie Chris Duhon _ also from Duke _ added a career-high 15 for the Bulls (2-11). Luol Deng, another rookie from Duke, had 12 points for Chicago.
“Laettner was the best `Dookie’ out there tonight,” Wade said. “We had great ball movement, we stopped them and got the ball off the boards and did what our coach was preaching.”
When O’Neal went to the bench with his fourth foul at the 3:29 mark of the third quarter, the Heat had a 72-64 lead. Instead of struggling, they went on a 14-4 run _ including 10 straight _ to pull away.
The Heat increased a three-point halftime lead to 10 late in the third when O’Neal hit a follow and Wesley Person made two jumpers, one a 3-pointer. Jones’ two free throws with under a second left kept the Heat ahead by 10.
Wade’s inside basket and free throw, a 3-pointer by Damon Jones and Person’s jumper started the Heat on a 8-0 spurt at the outset of the fourth quarter and suddenly it was 86-68.
Laettner, with his sixth team in 13 seasons, scored 10 second-quarter points to spark a 20-8 Heat run that built a 13-point lead.
“He has good hands, can drive to the basket and plays solid defense,” Hinrich said of Laettner. “He’s been a good player in this league for a long time. Obviously we were focusing on their premiere players _ not that he’s not a premiere player _ but for him to put up those numbers really hurt us.”
O’Neal had 11 in the opening half, sitting out the final 7:31 of the first quarter after picking up his second foul.
