May 15, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat point guard Norris Cole (30) reacts during the second half against the Chicago Bulls in game five of the second round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at American Airlines Arena. Miami Heat won 94-91. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

MIAMI — After a shocking win against the Miami Heat in the first game, the Chicago Bulls lost four straight. After a back-and-forth three quarters, Miami turned on the jets in the 4th quarter and cruised to the next round.

The Miami Heat held a 30-21 lead after the first quarter despite Carlos Boozer’s early success (Boozer would finish with 28 points). The Bulls began to click offensively and a three-point play by a driving Nate Robinson cut the lead to just five with over nine minutes left in the half.  A pull-up jumper by Richard Hamilton, and a Jimmy Butler three pointer further cut the lead to one point.

With seconds winding down at the end of the half, Robinson, dribbled between his legs and chucked a deep three-pointer with only .5 seconds left in the half to give the Bulls a 53-47 halftime lead. Boozer was easily Chicago’s best player, and scored 19 pts at the half on 7-of-9 shooting.

The Bulls held a modest nine point lead late in the third quarter, but as has happened throughout the playoffs (and during the regular season, as well) everyone watching knew the Heat were going to turn it on.  Norris Cole hit a jumper to trim the Bulls’ lead to one, then a few plays later Cole drove down the lane and finished with a one-handed dunk over the outstretched arms of Joakim Noah and Boozer.  Soon after, Dwyane Wade exhibited his characteristic explosiveness (even with an injured right knee) by destroying the rim on an electrifying put-back dunk.

The Heat went on to outscore the Bulls 25-14 in the fourth quarter. LeBron James ended up with 26 points and Dwyane Wade added 18.  Boozer also finished with 26 points and Little Nate chipped in with 21. Without former MVP, Derrick Rose, the Bulls had no chance in this series.

The Miami Heat have won 45 of their last 48 games, including the playoffs — now that’s a dominant basketball team.

The Heat will open the Eastern Conference Finals next week and will face the eventual winner of the Knicks/Pacers series.

Eric N. Ellington covers the Miami Heat for Fansided.com. You can follow him @EricNEllington

May 10, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls center Nazr Mohammed (48) pushes Miami Heat small forward LeBron James (6) during the second quarter in game three of the second round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

In my preview I said that to win Game 3 the Heat had to get a little nasty — and the Heat certainly did, matching the Chicago Bulls’ toughness with their own grittiness.

The game see-sawed back and forth for basically the entire game, with teams getting chippy and chirpy with each other.  The nasty tone of the game was set in the first quarter with Nazr Mohammed shoving LeBron to the floor and getting ejected in the process.

With five minutes left in the game, and with the Chicago Bulls only down five points and with the momentum, LeBron James and Norris Cole made some huge plays to carry the Heat down the stretch in a hostile atmosphere.  Norris Cole hit a three to extend the Heat’s lead to seven.  LeBron James had an and-1 to further extend the lead to ten.

This stretch of play was atypical of this game.  The Bulls and Heat would trade punches, but every time the Bulls had the momentum the Heat would steal it away quickly with a three pointer or an easy basket.  That being said, this game was probably a little too close for the Heat’s liking (they were only up by two points at halftime), especially since the Bulls were missing Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich.

Dwyane Wade had a good game for the Heat (20 points on 8-for-16 shooting) as did Norris Cole (18 points, 3-for-3 from three point range), though the rest of the team, with the exception of LeBron, struggled to score..  On the other hand, while the Chicago Bulls starters had good games (every starter had 15 or more points) the Bulls essentially only had two bench players after Nazr Mohammed got ejected.  This meant that four Bulls players played 40+ minutes — by comparison, Wade and LeBron were the only Heat players to play 40+ minutes.  This is going to be a key point to monitor for the rest of the series — how many minutes the Bulls players log versus the Heat players.  I suspect that as this series slogs on, the minutes that the Bulls have logged will catch up with their players.

Here are some key stats from the game:

• FG% — Heat (50%), Bulls (45.5%)
• 3FG% — Heat (40%), Bulls (31.8%)
• FT% — Heat (86.7%), Bulls (68%)
• Rebounds — Heat (39), Bulls (37)