LeBron James and the Miami Heat got to a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semi-finals, after beating the struggling Chicago Bulls 88-65. Miami rolled once again, dominating both ends of the floor and giving nothing away to a Chicago team that seems to have reached the end of their gas tank.

James led once again Miami with a complete, solid game, scoring 27 points along with 7 rebounds, 8 assists and a couple of steals. Chris Bosh added another 14 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocks to a Miami team that never trailed their way to another convincing win.

For Chicago Carlos Boozer led with 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Jimmy Butler gave them another 12 points. Once more short-handed, with Deng, Hinrich and Rose inactive, the Bulls have had a really tough season, where at some point every key player had to be sidelined due to injuries, somehow though they always managed to get wins and found ways to make it hard for their opponents.

That was not the case last night.

After recording their worst loss in franchise history in the postseason in game 2 of the series, the Bulls had new negative records last night. They shot a playoff franchise low at 25.7 percent from the field while the Heat shot about 49 percent; they had their lowest scoring game in playoffs with just 65 points and they had their lowest scoring quarter in the 3rd quarter of the game, being outscored 17-9.

With all that going on, Miami almost tied their franchise record for fewest points allowed in a playoff game and pounded the Bulls to make this victory look easy."We worked for it," Heat forward Chris Bosh said. "I never like to say that things are easy."

The Bulls never made it a contest for Miami, for the beginning to the end of the game. Chicago looked like they have reached the limit of their potential, with their squad that injury-plagued. Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau though rejected that thought. "No," he said. "I think the thing is they're [Heat] a great team. We have to come out with great intensity -- but we also have to make shots."

Miami cruised to this win despite another quiet night from Dwyane Wade, who had 6 points. Wade appeared to have knee problems once again, when he had to be sidelined after a hard fall on his sore right knee when he attempted a fade-away jumper. He returned to the game though a little later.

"It's frustrating at times, but you just try to do what you can," Wade said.

Miami took another step towards the Finals with their win last night, playing solid basketball with and taking advantage of the Bulls turnovers to score 19 fast break points, leaving the battered Bulls frustrated once more. "We're kind of putting screws and bandages everywhere. It's frustrating," Bulls forward Taj Gibson said. "Every night and every day."

The Miami Heat now look to have another great performance on Wednesday night, to seal the deal and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. 

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