Miami, FL
Takeaways & Player Grades: Miami Heat 116, Chicago Bulls 113 – January 29, 2026
Hey, at least it wasn’t a blowout!
Facing off in their first of three straight against the Miami Heat, the Chicago Bulls fell short, 116-113. Unlike Wednesday night’s battle, where they let the Pacers find their rhythm late, the Bulls were the ones to claw back in. When a team is as well-coached as the Heat, however, finishing the job is extra difficult.
Back at it on Saturday in South Beach.
3 Takeaways
A Dumbfounding Shot Chart
If the Chicago Bulls were hungry for revenge, their stomachs certainly weren’t rumbling. The first half of action looked a lot like what we have recently grown used to in this matchup. While there was some initial back-and-forth thanks to surprising aggressiveness from Isaac Okoro and Jalen Smith, the Heat didn’t need long to gain control.
Their combination of speed and physicality slowly but surely started to take a toll on a Bulls team that played in Indianapolis 24 hours earlier. To be sure, Chicago would only face a 61-50 deficit heading into the halftime break, but the gap felt a whole lot bigger. They posted only 20 points in the second quarter alone on a 25.7 percent success rate.
Chicago’s inability to buy a bucket at the rim is what really jumped off the screen. They went a staggering 9-25 from inside the paint over the first two quarters, struggling to finish over the top of Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware. Far too many times, they settled for lower-percentage floaters right outside the restricted area.
Seriously, the shot chart is about as ugly as it gets …
To little surprise, the Heat had the opposite success against Chicago’s far weaker interior defense. They shot 14-18 in the paint and went 10-12 from the charity stripe. When the Heat started the night a perfect 6-6 from the field, you could tell this was going to be an uphill battle for the Bulls.
Miami Loves Mistakes
The Miami Heat came into the evening averaging the NBA’s fourth-most points off turnovers and in the fastbreak. It showed.
While the Heat faced their own struggles offensively as the game went on, their efficiency when earning extra possessions proved to be the difference-maker. They finished the night with 23 points scored off the Bulls’ 16 turnovers. Relatedly, entering with the highest PACE in the NBA, they were a +12 in the fastbreak points.
Arguably, no sequence described the night better than when the Bulls were down 106-100 with 5:38 to go. Pelle Larsson went down the floor and drained a three, forcing Billy Donovan to call a timeout. Frustration appeared to be boiling over for the Bulls, who looked both gassed and bothered with their own poor shooting.
Coming out of the timeout, Chicago immediately turned the ball over again. Nikola Jovic proceeded to shank a three-pointer, but the Bulls failed to capitalize again with a second consecutive turnover. A massive missed opportunity.
To be sure, the Bulls would still find themselves in a position to steal the game for reasons we will discuss in a moment, but that’s when the turnover monster reared its head again. Chicago forced a key stop down 112-109 with under 30 seconds to go. Now with a chance to go down the floor and tie the game, Coby White didn’t see Larsson underneath the rim, and the ball was poked away with ease. Miami may not have converted off this turnover, but they milked 18 more valuable seconds off the clock.
As we all know, Miami is one of the most well-coached teams in the NBA. The last thing you want to do is fork over too many extra chances or fail to hustle back in the open floor. Chicago did both too many times tonight.
Ayo Dosunmu Puts On His Cape
On life support for three quarters, Ayo Dosunmu single-handedly gave the Chicago Bulls a chance to steal the win.
After the Bulls’ initial turnover frenzy around the 5 minutes mark, Dosunmu put together an individual 7-0 run. He first nailed a tough reverse layup before draining a three from the corner. Then, he finished another bucket at the rim to suddenly cut the Miami lead to 110-107. This is when the absence of Davion Mitchell for Miami may have been felt the most. They simply didn’t have someone on the floor who could stay in front of the high-energy guard.
Fast forward to 10.1 seconds left, and Dosunmu was draining two clutch free throws to make it a 112-111 game. Following some free throw trading, the Bulls would ultimately watch Coby White come up short on a game-tying three-point attempt. Still, it was a remarkably impressive fourth quarter for Dosunmu, who finished with 15 of his 23 points in the frame and was all over the floor. If you’re a guard-needy team watching with the trade deadline approaching, what you’re willing to give up to bring Dosunmu in may have just gone up.
Chicago Bulls Player Grades
Ayo Dosunmu – A
Stats: 23 PTS, 7 REB, 4 AST
He gave the Bulls a chance. Simple as that.
Kevin Huerter – B+
Stats: 15 PTS, 10 REB, 3 AST, 2 BLK
Sometimes, you will look down and be caught off guard by Kevin Huerter’s balanced box score, but tonight wasn’t one of those nights. You were consistently aware of him when he was out there, whether it be behind the arc (4-9) or on the glass. You need to bring that extra gear when playing Miami, and he did that.
Matas Buzelis – B
Stats: 16 PTS, 9 REB, 4 AST, 1 BLK
Matas Buzelis was fighting on both ends and trying to match Miami’s physicality up front. While he only finished 6-15 from the field, tonight showed the mix of early aggressiveness and in-game adjusting that we want to see from the youngster. With shots not falling in the first half, he was a little more careful with his selection in the second half.
Jalen Smith – C+
Stats: 11 PTS, 5 REB
The Chicago Bulls hung around in the first quarter, in part, because of Jalen Smith’s shotmaking. He scored the team’s first three buckets of the night before later knocking down the three that knotted things up at 29 apiece. Nevertheless, by the end of the Bulls’ poor second quarter, the team announced that he would not return due to calf tightness. Not what you want to hear.
Coby White – C-
Stats: 14 PTS, 7 REB, 5 REB, 2 STL
Tonight was a tough one for Coby White, who shot 2-11 from the field and missed the potential game-tying bucket. He also turned the ball over a few times down the stretch. The good news: 8-10 from the charity stripe.
Miami, FL
Miami-Dade deputies detain elderly father who they say shot and killed his son after a domestic dispute
A 75-year-old man has been detained after Miami-Dade deputies say he shot and killed his son after a domestic dispute in Palmetto Bay.
This happened, according to investigators, at approximately 4:49 p.m. in the area of SW 168th Street and 92nd Avenue.
When deputies arrived, they found the elderly man, who had not yet been identified, and immediately detained him for questioning.
Afterwards, they conducted a security sweep and found an adult male, 47, suffering from an apparent gunshot wound.
Deputies say this isn’t the first time they have responded to the home.
“We have responded to this particular residence in the past due to mental health-type incidents,” MDSO PIO Detective Argemis “AC” Colome said.
Deputies say the dispatcher heard a dispute happening over the phone during the 911 call, but it’s unclear what led to the shooting and who was having the mental health crisis.
“The individual who shot was the father, and the male deceased on the scene was the son,” Colome said.
Neighbors reacted to this family tragedy with shock.
“So sad, a little bit concerned cause maybe you’re, you know, you’re staying somewhere, and you don’t know what’s actually happening at the other houses,” Giorgos Kollilekas, who lives in the area, said.
Colome said that there is no danger to the community as this was the result of a domestic dispute.
“There’s always help, please, there’s a lot of hotlines, there’s a lot of numbers. You can call us. At the end of the day, getting help early can mitigate situations like this,” Colome said.
No other information has been released, including the identities of those involved or what caused the dispute.
The investigation is ongoing.
Cain and Kushner are launching a South Florida real estate joint venture, planning a luxury apartment tower in Edgewater for their first project, The Real Deal has learned.
London-based Cain, led by Jonathan Goldstein, and New York-based Kushner, led by Laurent Morali and Nicole Kushner Meyer, plan a 40-story, 364-unit project on Cain’s 1.5-acre site at 614 and 720 Northeast 27th Street in Miami, according to a news release. The property is near the Missoni Baia condo tower that Cain co-developed with Vlad Doronin’s OKO Group.
BDT & MSD Partners provided a $42 million loan for the project, which is in the pre-development phase. Construction is expected to start late next year, the release says.
The Cain-Kushner JV is targeting residential and mixed-use investments and developments in the tri-county region.
“We are looking at all opportunities that we think are sensible,” Goldstein said.
Their South Florida JV comes as the region is experiencing another influx of out-of-staters after the pandemic-era boom, only this time the in-migration is primarily of wealthy individuals and their companies amid the blue-to-red-state migration.
Yet, Cain and Kushner’s plans for Edgewater apartments come as the multifamily market has softened due to hefty deliveries in recent years. A record 18,600 units were completed in 2024, outpacing leasing that year by about 20 percent, CoStar Group data shows. Although construction starts have slowed, last year’s 12,718 unit completions still surpassed total leasing for the year by about 1,000 apartments.
It has led to slower lease-ups, more concessions and a drop in the average asking rents across South Florida.
Developers starting projects now have said demand will catch up by the time they finish their buildings, with many adding that South Florida remains a strong apartment market. Many are betting on luxury rentals, which CoStar’s data showed made up the bulk of leasing in recent years.
“We are big believers in South Florida and big believers in Miami,” Goldstein said.
Cain, backed by Todd Boehly’s Eldridge Industries, has been investing in South Florida for nearly a decade, with the JV in some ways marking its second chapter in the region.
Cain’s most recent project is the Delano Miami Beach renovation. The hotel, which closed in 2020, is expected to reopen in time for the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix early next month.
Aside from the Missoni Baia condo tower, Cain also partnered with OKO on the Una Residences condo tower in Brickell and the 57-story 830 Brickell office tower. The office building was completed in 2024 fully pre-leased, catching a demand surge during the pandemic-era in-migration of out-of-state companies to Miami. Cain also is an investor in Doronin’s hospitality firm Aman Group.
Kushner has a presence in Miami’s Edgewater, completing the 37-story, 420-unit apartment tower at 2000 Biscayne Boulevard in 2024, with plans for more residential development next-door at 1900 Biscayne Boulevard. It also purchased the 276-unit Hamilton apartment building at 555 Northeast 34th Street from Aimco.
Elsewhere, Kushner plans a 932-unit multifamily development at 300 West Broward Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. It borrowed a $115 million construction loan last year for a luxury 68-unit apartment project in Surfside. And it scored approval in October for a 470-unit rental building and synagogue development near Hollywood’s Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.
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