CHICAGO -- The Miami Heat made sure that almost wasn't nearly good enough for the short-handed Chicago Bulls on Friday night at the United Center.

The Bulls, playing without injured starting guards Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler, stayed with Miami for three quarters before the Heat dominated the fourth in a 118-96 victory.

Chicago (32-32) only trailed 84-81 starting the fourth, but was outscored 34-15 in the final quarter and 64-38 in the second half. After taking a 31-23 lead in the first quarters, the Bulls were outscored 95-65 the rest of the game.

"We didn't start the game well," said Miami's Goran Dragic, who all scorers with 26 points to go with nine assists and a plus-29 rating. "They were making some shots and we didn't communicate well on defense, but in the third and fourth quarter, we started to play together. [We played] Miami Heat defense and forced them to make a lot of turnovers, and then we [ran] it."

Led by rookie Josh Richardson, who scored 16 of his 22 points in the fourth, the Heat used a 26-4 run to seize control of a game that had been tightly contested. Former Bulls forward Luol Deng also contributed to the run, scoring 10 of his 19 points in the fourth and helping Miami contain Pau Gasol in the second half.

Gasol finished with 17 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists, one assist shy of his third triple-double, but only had four points, three rebounds and three assists in the last two quarters.

"They were aggressive and they got the best of me in the first quarter, and I just knew that it was going to be a long game," Deng said. "I just had to keep battling."

Joe Johnson had 15 points and Hassan Whiteside finished with 13 points and 16 rebounds for the Heat (38-27), who rebounded from a loss Wednesday at the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Bulls got double-figure scoring from Taj Gibson (13 points), Doug McDermott (10 points), Aaron Brooks (11 points) and Justin Holiday (14 points), who started after the decision was made prior to the game to sideline Rose.

Chicago, which was swept in a back-to-back, is 10-20 since a season-high six-game winning streak Dec. 28 to Jan. 7. Since that streak, the Bulls have been besieged with multiple injuries to key players and fallen outside the playoff mix in the Eastern Conference.

Chicago remains a half game behind the eighth-place Detroit Pistons in the conference standings after Detroit lost 118-103 at Charlotte on Friday. The Bulls committed 18 more turnovers against the Heat and have turned the ball over 82 times in their past four games.

Part of the issue is not having their starting guards healthy. Butler has missed 16 of the past 17 games and Rose missed his 11th game this season with his fifth separate ailment. Despite them not playing, the Bulls started hot and led 31-23 after the first quarter, when they shot 63.2 percent from the floor (12-of-19).

"We do miss Jimmy and Derrick when they are not out there," Chicago coach Fred Hoiberg said. "They give you two ball-handlers and two guys [who] can play pick-and-roll. When we kept it simple, great things happened. In that fourth quarter, we lost our minds."

The Heat cut into Chicago's lead in the second, but trailed 58-54 at halftime thanks to Gasol's 13 points, nine rebounds, six assists, two blocks and plus-10 rating.

As it turned out, that was the beginning of the end for Chicago.

The Heat took a 73-71 lead midway through the third on back-to-back 3-pointers by Dragic and Johnson, their first lead since the first quarter, and used the momentum to spark the big run in the fourth.

"A lot more energy, a lot more effort [in the second half]," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "You could see, it looked like we were two places at once. That doesn't come without an incredible energy level spike there in the fourth quarter."

NOTES: The Bulls didn't have either of their usual backcourt starters. PG Derrick Rose (groin) and SG Jimmy Butler (left knee) were sidelined by injuries. Rose strained a groin in the fourth quarter of Chicago's 109-101 loss at the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night. "He does have a strain in there," Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. "I don't know how serious or long he'll be out. It's a day-to-day type thing is what it looks like right now." ... Butler went through a workout Friday and reported no setbacks afterward. He has missed the past two games because of his sprained left knee, which was aggravated in a March 5 game against the Houston Rockets in his first game back after missing 13. Butler will try to play three-on-three in practice Saturday, followed by five-on-five Sunday. He might return during an upcoming two-game road trip to Toronto and Washington, D.C. ... Heat PG Dwyane Wade played with a deep thigh bruise that happened during a collision in Miami's previous game on Wednesday at the Milwaukee Bucks.