Bulls gain edge at home

Shaquille O’Neal’s words were sharp and pointed and aimed straight at his target, like those passes he whips to cutters when he is double-teamed.

His target this time was referee Eddie F. Rush.

“My intention was to come out and be myself, until Eddie Rush derailed me,” O’Neal said after fouling out.

Chicago’s Luol Deng also played a big part in knocking defending champion Miami off track. So did Ben Gordon and Andres Nocioni.

Deng scored 33 points, Gordon and Nocioni each made two free throws in the final 19 seconds, and the Chicago Bulls held off the Heat, 96-91, Saturday in Game 1 of their opening-round rematch.

“This game was really big,” Deng said. “Now that we have the lead, most of the time the team that loses has to adjust. We did a lot of things today that worked for us.”

The Heat trailed, 92-91, after Dwyane Wade found Udonis Haslem for a layup with 38 seconds left, but Gordon made two foul shots with 18 seconds remaining. After a timeout, Wade missed a three-point shot and Nocioni made two free throws with 9.8 seconds left for the final score.

Game 2 is Tuesday night in Chicago.

The Heat beat the Bulls in six emotional games last season on the way to the championship, but injuries limited it to 44 wins during the regular season.

Still, this looked like a difficult matchup for a Bulls team that dropped from the No. 2 seeding to fifth in the Eastern Conference when it lost its finale to New Jersey.

Wade sat out 23 games late in the season because of a dislocated left shoulder and struggled through three quarters. He scored nine points in the fourth and finished with 21, and O’Neal had 19 points before fouling out with 3:19 left.

He accused the Bulls of flopping and said they had “lot of help out there.”

“It’s just unfortunate that people fall for that,” said O’Neal, who scored 10 points in the first quarter before the fouls piled up. “I’m used to just outplaying somebody and just playing hard, but I guess that’s what you got to do to stop Shaq.”

Deng, who enjoyed a breakout season but had struggled against the Heat, made it look easy this time, making 14 of 22 shots. Gordon chipped in with 24 points and a career-high 11 assists, and Nocioni scored 17 points.

That was enough to offset a rough outing by Kirk Hinrich, who finished with two points and had five fouls. With Hinrich in foul trouble, Thabo Sefolosha guarded Wade and held him to three-for-10 shooting through three quarters.

“More and more as we’re going through the playoffs, I’ll continue to see my confidence come back in my game,” Wade said. “There’s stuff I want to do that I’m not able to do, but I’ll continue to work on it before and after practice.”