Miami Heat basketball players are currently preparing for a battle in Tuesday’s season opener against the Chicago Bulls. At the end of the team’s practice on Monday, the assistant coaches held football pads, and LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh hammered them as they drove into the lane.
“We don’t like them, they don’t like us,” James said of the Bulls at the end of the drill. “It’s not unheard of. We all know how it is.”
Facing the Bulls on Tuesday, the players made it clear that the drills were specifically to prep them for a tough game.
Bosh said, “It’s all planned. We know they’re big, physical and we know we have to finish.”
The Heat expect the Bulls to be extra motivated Tuesday as point guard Derrick Rose, who missed the entire last NBA season, is healthy, and recently named Miami as Chicago’s new rival.
A week ago, Rose was asked if he felt the Bulls’ biggest rival is Miami and he replied: “If you want to say [that], yeah. For sure, Miami.”
James said he’s happy to be playing Chicago for the first game of the season.
“It don’t matter who it is,” James said of the opponent for the opener. “But we like the fact that it’s the Bulls.”
