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The Chicago Bulls' season is over and they can thank a native son of Chicago, not to mention a former Bulls player, for sending them packing.
Behind 31 points from guard Max Strus, the Miami Heat eliminated the Bulls in the final game of the East's play-in tournament to reach the NBA playoffs. They will face the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the first round as the No. 8 seed, with Game 1 scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET on Sunday.
Strus, who was born and raised in the Chicago area and played for local colleges Lewis University and DePaul University, opened the game on a tear. He score the Heat's first 12 points with four 3-pointers in the first five minutes, and had 14 points by the end of the first quarter.
He wasn't too shabby in the fourth quarter either, hitting a clutch 3 to give Miami a 5-point lead at the 1:14 mark.
Strus' 31 points on only 16 shots (7-of-12 from 3-point range) were one point shy of a career high, and he finished the game with six rebounds as well. Pretty good for a player the Bulls let walk in 2020 after his two-way contract ran out.
"It does feel a little better against them, I'm not going to lie," Strus told TNT's Chris Haynes after the game.
The win is a career highlight for Strus, who went undrafted out of DePaul and spent most of his rookie season in the G League, appearing in only two games for the Bulls in 2019-2020. He found his home one season later when he became the Heat's latest development success story, and has seen his role on the team grow with each season since.
This year, Strus averaged 11.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, all career highs, while shooting 35.0% from deep.
Strus wasn't the lone former Bull to go off for Miami, though, as Jimmy Butler also had 31 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Surviving the play-in tournament means Butler will reach the NBA playoffs for the seventh straight time and for the 11th time in his 12-year career.
Daniel Weinman was crowned winner of the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event on Monday, taking home a record breaking $12.1 million in winnings. Weinman had to outlast the other 10,043 entrants to take home the prize and get his hands on his share of live poker’s largest ever prize pool – a staggering $93,399,900. As well as taking home the prize money, 35-year-old Weinman also got his hands on the WSOP Main Event bracelet. The huge bracelet contains 500 grams of 10-karat yellow gold, as well as 2,352 various precious gemstones.
Daniel Weinman won the World Series of Poker's main event world championship on Monday in Las Vegas, earning $12.1 million along the way. Playing in the tournament for a 16th year, Weinman was tops in a deep pool of 10,043 players vying for $93.39 million. His victory came after just 164 hands at the final table. "I was honestly on the fence about even coming back and playing this tournament," the 35-year-old Atlanta native told reporters afterward. Weinman's final table featured Jan-Peter Jachtmann, who landed in fourth place and took home $3 million, as well as Toby Lewis, who finished seventh and secured $1.42 million. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the main event's entry pool far outpaced the previous record of 8,773 set in 2006. "I've always kind of felt that poker was kind of going in a dying direction, but to see the numbers at the World Series this year has been incredible," Weinman said. "And to win this main event, it doesn't feel real. I mean, [there's] so much luck in a poker tournament. I thought I played very well." Steven Jones finished second, securing $6.5 million. And Adam Walton settled for third and a $4 million prize.
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