Miami Heat's LeBron James, left, reacts as he talks to official Dan Crawford during the fourth quarter of his team's 103-82 loss to the Chicago Bulls in Game 1 of the NBA's Eastern Conference finals.

CHICAGO — The Chicago Bulls saw the stars aligning for the Heat last summer, the “Big Three” free agents uniting in Miami on a quest for a championship.

Joakim Noah wasn’t conceding anything. Nor was Derrick Rose.

Chicago swept Miami in the regular season, and if the Bulls keep this up, they’ll knock the Heat out of the playoffs, too.

Rose scored 28 points, Luol Deng ably contained LeBron James and the Bulls struck first in the Eastern Conference finals, pulling away to beat the Heat 103-82 in Game 1 on Sunday night.

“We felt like we could compete against anybody,” said Noah. “This is just a really exciting situation right now. The position that we’re in is unbelievable. ... Nobody believed that we could be in this position right now.”

That belief, along with a major overhaul, led the Bulls to the league’s best record and rekindled an attitude not seen in the Windy City since the Michael Jordan era — when championships were an annual event.

Missing out on the Big Three? Seeing James and Bosh join Wade in Miami?

“We’re not worried about all the offseason stuff,” Rose said. “We’re not worried about it. We’re just trying to go out there and play hard, play with an edge, play with a lot of intensity.”

They certainly did on Sunday, particularly during the second half. The Bulls went on a 10-0 run midway through the third quarter, then pulled away in the fourth.

Rose settled down after committing three of his four turnovers in the opening minutes and showed why he is the MVP. He hit three 3-pointers and the Bulls converted 10 of 21 in all.

Deng had 21 points. He hit four 3s, had four steals and seven rebounds, and simply put the clamps on The King, holding James to 15 points on 5-of-15 shooting.

Thunder 105, Grizzlies 90

Kevin Durant followed his worst playoff performance with one of his best, taking the Oklahoma City Thunder from the brink of elimination to the Western Conference finals.

Durant scored 39 points for his best offensive outing of the series, Russell Westbrook became the fifth NBA player to record a triple-double in a Game 7 and the Thunder closed out the Memphis Grizzlies with a 105-90 win on Sunday.

Durant was a shell of himself in Game 6, the lowest-scoring game of his two postseason appearances.

Westbrook had 14 points, matching his season-high with 14 assists and producing extra possessions with 10 rebounds.