Miami Heat's 27-game winning streak in the National Basketball Association ended on Wednesday when they were beaten by the Chicago Bulls.
The Bulls won 101-97 at home to hand the NBA champions their first defeat since February 1.
Miami's 27 consecutive wins was the second longest winning streak in the NBA. Only the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers, who won 33 in a row, had a longer winning sequence in any of America's professional sports.
Playing without center Joakim Noah, guards Marco Belinelli and Richard Hamilton and former MVP Derrick Rose, the Bulls got 28 points from Luol Deng, while Carlos Boozer scored 21 points and pulled down 17 rebounds.
LeBron James led Miami with 32 points, while Chris Bosh scored 21 and Dwyane Wade had 18 as Miami, who had made a habit of coming from behind to win, finally came up short.
After leading by as many as 13 points in the first half, Chicago clung to a 69-68 edge heading into the fourth quarter then withstood a ferocious comeback from Miami.
The Bulls created some space with a 6-0 run, then added two three-pointers from Deng and another from Jimmy Butler to take an 86-79 lead with 5:13 remaining.
