For close to 48 hours, Tom Thibodeau preached composure, saying the Bulls couldn't lose focus to extracurricular shenanigans or officials' calls.
After Technicalapalooza in Game 2 on Wednesday, the NBA sent noted taskmaster Joey Crawford to officiate Game 3 on Friday.
And then the Bulls went all Bad Boy-era Pistons on the Heat. That meant both the good - toughness and tenacity - and the bad: an ejection, a possible suspension and potential fines for criticizing officials.
When the ejection and elbows cleared, the Heat had stolen back home-court advantage with a gritty 104-94 victory at a bloodthirsty United Center. Game 4 is Monday night. Bring battle gear.
Chris Bosh's monster game of 20 points and 19 rebounds offset a mostly passive night from LeBron James, who missed 11 of 17 shots before taking over late for a game-high 25 points, and Dwyane Wade, who scored just 10.
Norris Cole's 18 points helped the Heat to a 36-8 bench advantage as Thibodeau, despite Nazr Mohammed's ejection and starters' foul trouble, rode a short rotation that featured Jimmy Butler going the whole way again.
"We're well aware of what's going on," Thibodeau cryptically said. "I'm watching how things are going. I watch very closely. What I'm seeing is ... we'll adjust accordingly."
The Heat shot 30 free throws to the Bulls' 25 and were whistled for 20 fouls to the Bulls' 30. James wasn't called for a foul in more than 44 minutes.
Asked how the Heat pulled away late, Thibodeau tersely said, "They got to the free-throw line."
Game 2 brought nine technical fouls, two ejections and two flagrant fouls. But while Friday brought just one ejection, it hearkened back to a different era for its in-your-face nature.
With 9 minutes, 29 seconds left in the first half, Mohammed lined up James on a fast break and delivered a hard personal foul, which drew a retaliatory elbow from James that sent Mohammed crashing to the floor and then a Crawford-issued technical on James. Mohammed immediately came after James and shoved him, drawing his own technical and ejection after video review.
Some speculated James acted up Mohammed's shove.
"From my angle, I just saw a guy basically flop," Thibodeau said. "And I'm going to leave it at that."
But he didn't.
"He hasn't done anything but play hard," Thibodeau said of Mohammed. "I'm watching some of the plays with (Udonis) Haslem and (Chris) Andersen and I don't get it. I didn't think it warranted an ejection. I understand a flagrant foul. But an ejection? Nope."
The league surely will review the Mohammed incident from what suddenly has become a throwback series.
"I don't think I should've gotten kicked out," Mohammed said. "It's playoff basketball. You can't push a guy down. I was wrong. But to get kicked out, I don't get that."
Earlier, Joakim Noah drew the game's first technical when he shoved Andersen off of Nate Robinson after Andersen landed on top of Robinson following Andersen's foul. Andersen retaliated with an errant kick attempt toward Noah, who, to steal his Game 2 phrase, wasn't being very Zen.
"I was just trying to get Nate off the floor," Noah said.
The Bulls seemed in the Heat's head for a while. Noah clapped and smiled as Bosh chewed out Mario Chalmers during third-quarter free throws. Robinson forcefully blocked James from behind on a fast break, jazzing the crowd.
But the Heat kept their poise, making big plays late.
Noah drew a huge - and borderline - over-the-back call on Bosh with 3:15 remaining that led to Bosh free throws and a seven-point lead. Marco Belinelli, big all night with a playoff-career-high four 3-pointers and 16 points before fouling out, swished another 3.
But James and Cole sandwiched 3s around a Boozer basket for the Heat's biggest lead with 1:48 left. James then placed the exclamation point on matters by barreling his way to a three-point play with 83 seconds left.
Carlos Boozer's 21 points led all five Bulls starters in double figures. Noah fouled out with 15 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks, becoming the first Bull since Michael Jordan in 1997 to reach at least those amounts in each category.
"We're going to have to play our best game on Monday," Thibodeau said. "When you play this team, you need a lot of mental, physical and emotional toughness. We're not going to get calls."
Twitter @kcjhoop