Miami Heat: How the Heatles Took over Top Spot in East by Dominating the Bulls

No matter how you look at it, the Miami Heat absolutely dominated the Chicago Bulls Sunday afternoon.

Sure, they failed to close the Bulls out when they had a double-digit lead midway through the fourth quarter, but the Heatles controlled nearly every aspect of the game for all 48 minutes.

The Heat topped the Bulls in three-point field goal percentage, free-throw percentage, assists and rebounds, in addition to committing less turnovers and less personal fouls than the Bulls.

The close final score of 97-93 doesn't do a good job of showing just how in control the Heat were for the entirety of Sunday's much-hyped matchup.

The most telling statistic of the game is found in the fact that the Bulls trailed the Heat for all 48 minutes, never taking the lead from LeBron and company.

A majority of analysts and experts will chalk the loss up to the fact that the Bulls were without the mighty Luol Deng, who usually defends LeBron James, who led the Heat with 35 points on 51.2 percent shooting with 11 rebounds and five assists.  But no matter how you look at the Heat's performance against Chicago, the only word that aptly defines it is "dominant".

So how exactly did the Heat dominate the Bulls?  They did so by outplaying the Bulls on the defensive side of the ball while managing to control the tempo of the game with their own explosive transition offense.

As usual, the Heat's transition offense was fueled by their ability to create turnovers.  The Heat didn't just force turnovers, they also capitalized off of them, scoring 22 points off of 15 Bulls turnovers, as compared to the Bulls, who only managed to score 11 points off of 13 turnovers.

The Bulls' inability to stop the Heat in their transition offense, especially early on the game, allowed the Heat to set the tone of the game and control the tempo of the game, which proved too much for the Bulls to overcome.

The Heat didn't just dominate in the transition offense alone.  They also outplayed the Bulls defensively, which many didn't think they could do.  The Heat's defense, by heavily contesting perimeter shots and overpowering the Bulls' bigs in the paint, forced the Bulls to rely on Derrick Rose's ability to penetrate and hit difficult, which he did, but just like the 2011 NBA Playoffs it wasn't enough to sink the Heat.

One of the most impressive takeaways from the Heat's big win over the Bulls is the way that LeBron James took over the game, and proved to be the most dominant player on the court on Sunday afternoon.

LeBron ended the game with his eighth double-double and his 11th 30-plus-point game of the season, which is more than a majority of players are able to attain in an entire season and even an entire career.

LeBron scored 35 points on 52.1 percent shooting, while accounting for 11 rebounds, five assists and one blocked shot. That out of LeBron outshined the 34-point performance of the 2011 MVP, Rose, who shot just 39.2 percent, and accounted for only six rebounds and six assists.

More impressive than LeBron's point production or his ability to shoot above 50.0 percent from the field, was the fact that he accepted the role of being the focal point of the Heat's offense down the stretch in the fourth quarter.

LeBron scored nine of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, and he took shots on the final two possessions of the game with the Heat only leading by two points.  While the first of those possessions resulted in a missed 6-foot jumper, and the second ending with two missed free-throws, it at least showed that LeBron is gaining confidence when it comes to being the backbone of the Heat's offense in the clutch.

Many feel that at the foundation of LeBron's "clutch issues" is a lack of confidence in himself.  The only way to improve on that, and build self-confidence, is to continue to take "clutch shots" during the regular season, and that's what LeBron did Sunday afternoon.  LeBron's never going to hit 100 percent of the game-winning shots he takes, but to be considered one of the best ever he at least has to at least start taking them.

Although the Heat dominated the Bulls on Sunday afternoon, the debate over which team is the best in the Eastern Conference will live on, mainly because the Bulls were without star small forward Deng.

Even with Deng in the starting lineup, the Bulls just don't have the athleticism or pure offensive talent to compete in a seven game series with the Heat.

The Bulls were arguably the best defensive team in the entire NBA heading into their matchup with the Heat, giving up only 87.0 ppg, but the Heat proved that having a high-powered offense is more important than having the league's best defense.

Going into Sunday's showdown the Bulls were considered the top team in the Eastern Conference, and I think it's blatantly clear that they lost that title afar their battle with the Heat.  Chicago might ultimately end up with a better record than the Heat, because teams don't care as much about beating the Bulls as as they care about dethroning the mighty big three in South Beach when they have the chance.

Even if the Bulls do end the season with a better record than the Heat, it won't mean that they are the better team, and that was put on display Sunday afternoon in South Beach.

The jury is still out on whether or not the Heat are the best team in the NBA, but one thing is for sure, and that is that the Heat are undoubtedly the best, most complete team in the Eastern Conference.

The Bulls will have to wait until their Mar. 14 rematch with the Heat in Chicago to try and reclaim the top spot in the Eastern Conference, because until then that honor goes to the Miami Heat.

Not only did the LeBron and company earn the top spot in the East, LeBron also earned the top spot on the "best dunks of the year" list by literally jumping over Bulls' guard John Lucas III.  Go ahead and ask Lucas who he thinks is the best team in the Eastern Conference, I'm sure he'd agree that LeBron and the Heat are.