Heat handle Bulls, earn playoff rematch with C's 'the hard way' - ESPN

MIAMI — The chants started raining down in the fourth quarter. «We want Boston,» the Miami Heat crowd kept shouting, over and over.

The fans got their wish. And a rematch of the past two Eastern Conference finals awaits in Round 1 this year.

Miami — even with Jimmy Butler sidelined for several weeks with a sprained knee — is back in the playoffs. Tyler Herro scored 24 points and was an assist shy of a triple-double, rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 21 points and the Heat grabbed the last spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs by beating the Chicago Bulls 112-91 in a play-in tournament elimination game Friday night.

«I have an appreciation for the things you can't buy, the things that you have to earn,» Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. «We had to earn this. You can't influence it. You can't pay money for it. You actually have to collectively come together to earn it — and we had to do it the hard way, just to get this first ticket punched for the invitation to this dance.»

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Kevin Love scored 16 and Bam Adebayo added 13 for Miami, which is set to be huge underdogs against a Celtics team that is the big favorite to win the NBA title. The Heat are the No. 8 seed again, just like last year when they survived the play-in and went all the way to the NBA Finals.

«Ultimately, we've just got to bring that Miami Heat culture and that toughness,» Jaquez said. «We've got two games in Boston. We've got to set the tone extremely