MIAMI (AP) -Ben Gordon scored 24 points, Luol Deng had 22 points and 11 rebounds and the Chicago Bulls beat the defending champion Miami Heat 92-79 Sunday to complete a sweep and win a postseason series for the first time since the Michael Jordan era.
The Bulls, who will face Detroit in the second round, became the first team to oust a defending champion in the opening playoff series since Phoenix did it to San Antonio in 2000.
Dwyane Wade scored 24 points for Miami on 8-for-22 shooting, and added 10 assists. Shaquille O’Neal had 16 points, Alonzo Mourning scored 14 and James Posey had 18 rebounds – a club playoff-record 17 on the defensive end – for the Heat.
Chicago became the 80th consecutive NBA team to advance after taking a 3-0 lead in a series; only three teams in major pro sports have overcome such a deficit, and the Heat won’t be joining the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, 1975 New York Islanders and 2004 Boston Red Sox in that exclusive club.
Miami, which didn’t trail until late in the third quarter, got within one point twice in the fourth – first on a jumper by Wade with 11:15 left, then when Posey made a pair of free throws with 5:27 remaining. Chicago had an answer both times.
Suns 113, Lakers 100
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Steve Nash had 23 assists – one shy of the NBA playoff record – to go with 17 points, Amare Stoudemire had 27 points and a career playoff-high 21 rebounds, and Phoenix took a 3-1 lead over the Lakers in their first-round series.
Nash left the game to a mixed reception with 1:02 remaining and the outcome long since decided. Magic Johnson and John Stockton share the single-game playoff assist record – Johnson doing so for the Lakers against Phoenix in 1984, and Stockton accomplishing the feat against the Lakers for Utah four years later.
Shawn Marion had 22 points and 11 rebounds, supersub Leandro Barbosa scored 16 points and James Jones added 11 for the Suns.
Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 31 points, seven rebounds and nine assists, but scored only three points in the fourth quarter. Lamar Odom added 19 points, 13 rebounds and five assists, and Maurice Evans and Smush Parker scored 11 points each for the Lakers, who committed 20 turnovers to 15 for the suns.
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