Bulls put road success on display in Miami

(SportsNetwork.com) - The Chicago Bulls have thrived on the road this season and will play back-to-back games as the guest, starting with Sunday's matchup down south against the Miami Heat.

The Bulls will also visit the Atlanta Hawks and are 10-3 as the visitor, which is the second-best mark in the NBA behind the Golden State Warriors (12-1).

Chicago is off to its best road start since the 1996-97 squad opened the season with an 11-2 ledger outside the Windy City.

Winners in two straight and five of the last seven games, the Bulls handed the visiting Portland Trail Blazers a 115-106 defeat Friday night at the United Center, where Derrick Rose scored a season-high 31 points on 14-of-24 shooting and handed out five assists.

Rose seems to be back at full strength after missing time with various injuries.

"My goals are still the same, stay healthy, keep stringing them out and win games," Rose said.

Aaron Brooks and Nikola Mirotic scored 17 and 15 points off the bench, respectively, while Pau Gasol added 13 points, 10 rebounds and four assists for Chicago, which shot 50 percent from the floor and recorded 19 points off 11 Portland turnovers. The Bulls also survived a 35-point outburst from Blazers stars LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard.

The Bulls scored a season-high 60 points in the paint and have posted 100-plus points in each of the previous eight games, posting an average of 109.1 ppg in that span. Chicago is averaging 103.3 ppg.

Bulls center Joakim Noah (ankle) has missed the last two wins and is listed as questionable Sunday. Noah is averaging 8.9 points and 9.6 rebounds.

Miami is back in South Beach after an eight-day, five-game road trip (2-3) and is scheduled to play eight of its next nine games at home.

The Heat closed the trek on a positive note with Friday's 100-95 victory over the Utah Jazz, as Dwyane Wade scored 29 points and Miami took advantage of a violation by the hosts on an inbounds pass. Norris Cole hit two free throws to finish off the win for the Heat, who also received 22 points from Chris Bosh and pulled away after the Jazz made it 80-79 early in the fourth.

"The most important thing is you find a way (to win). It's not always going to be pretty," Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Luol Deng scored 14 points and the Heat shot 50 percent for the game. Deng spent the first 10 1/2 years of his career with the Bulls and is making 61 percent of his shots over the past four games.

Deng is two games shy of 700 in his career.

The Heat are 10-0 when leading after three quarters and 7-2 when scoring 100 or more points.

Miami and Chicago will play the first of three meetings this season and split four games in 2013-14 with each team prevailing as the host. The Bulls are winless in their last three trips to Miami.