Miami Heat forward LeBron James said Saturday he appreciates Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen saying James "may be the greatest player to ever play the game." But James said he has a "long way" to go before being mentioned with Michael Jordan or anyone else who is considered the greatest of all time.

"Mike was an unbelievable player," James said after the Heat's practice Saturday at AmericanAirlines Arena in preparation for Tuesday's Game 1 of the NBA Finals against Dallas.

"I've got a long way, a long way, to be mentioned as one of the all-time greats. Not even just Jordan. It's a lot of great players that have played in this league. Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and all these guys floating around with multiple rings. Bill Russell.

"All these guys have pioneered this game for myself and D-Wade (Heat teammate Dwyane Wade) so I'm gracious, humbled by Scottie's comments, especially being a teammate of his and seeing Michael on a day-to-day basis. But as far as me, I don't know. I'm not going to sit here and say I'm better than Jordan or if I'm not better than Jordan. It's not about that."

The Miami Heat won the series and plenty of television viewers in the Eastern Conference finals.

The five-game series between the Heat and Chicago Bulls averaged 10.4 million viewers on TNT. That’s up 46 percent from last year’s Celtics-Magic matchup in the East, and up 33 percent from Lakers-Suns on TNT in 2010.

The Western Conference finals, with Dallas beating Oklahoma City, weren’t the same draw. The five games on ESPN averaged 6.9 million viewers.

Scottie Pippen suggested, on ESPN Radio’s Mike And Mike In the Morning, that LeBron James, and not his former teammate, Michael Jordan, could end up being the greatest all-around player the league has ever seen.

“Michael Jordan is probably the greatest scorer to ever play in the game, but I may go as far to say LeBron James is probably the greatest player to ever play the game,” Pippen said.

“Not only can he score at will, but he keeps everybody involved. You have to be on your Ps and Qs because everybody is a threat to score when he’s on the floor. Not only that, LeBron James will dominate the game on the offensive end and he’s able to do it on the defensive end as well. He can get in those passing lanes and dominate the game.”

Derrick Rose slumped at the podium after the game trying to comprehend how his team blew a 12-point fourth-quarter lead with 3:14 remaining.

"It was me," Rose said. "Turnovers. I guess fouls, if you call it that. If anything, just learn from it and just try to do better next year.

"Everything is a learning experience. We're definitely sad that we lost, but we'll take a lot from it. We'll get closer as a team. We'll get better. The only thing we can do now is work on our games this summer and just try to get it next year."

Rose probably was as shocked as anyone by his fourth-quarter struggles in the series. In the previous three games, he averaged just four points in fourth quarters on 2-for-11 shooting. Thursday, Rose wasn't much better, shooting 2-for-9 from the field in the fourth — 1-for-4 from 3-point range — for six points with three fouls, including the crucial one against Wade.

"At the end, I told you, it's on me,'' Rose said. "Everything, it's on me.''

The Miami Heat advanced to the 2011 NBA Finals with an 83-80 comeback win against the Chicago Bulls in Game 5 at the United Center.

LeBron James and Dwyane Wade scored 22 consecutive points for the Heat, erasing a 12-point deficit in the final three inutes of the third quarter.

"We don't even know what happened," Wade said. "I'm not going to lie to you and say we do. I can't remember all the plays."

"Man, that was maybe the three best minutes of my life," James said to Wade as they rehashed the finish. "At least so far."

"It's been a long four years for me," James said, recalling the last time he'd tasted the NBA Finals back in 2007.

"It's been a long five years for me," Wade said.

Chicago Bulls center Omer Asik is likely done for the rest of the season because of a muscle strain in his left leg, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Asik was able to play in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday against the Miami Heat, but he managed only two minutes of action before leaving the game for good.

The Heat will try to eliminate the Bulls in Game 5 on Thursday.

Asik suffered the initial injury in the third quarter of Game 3 on Sunday and did not return.

When it counted the most, Derrick Rose didn't find himself up against Mike Bibby or Mario Chalmers. It was LeBron James and Dwyane Wade who took on the hefty defensive challenge of slowing down Rose in the clutch. And it worked.

"Tonight definitely was on me,'' Rose said. "I had two opportunities to end the game. Couldn't do it. If anything, learn from it.''

Rose finished 8 of 27 from the field for 23 points, was 1 of 9 from the 3-point range and had seven turnovers. He was 1 for 5 from the field in the fourth quarter and was 0 for 3 in overtime with a turnover.

Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah has been persistent in his belief that his team can compete with the Miami Heat, but the stark reality that the Heat may have too much star power is becoming too tough to overcome.

"Sometimes effort isn't enough," Noah said after the Bulls' 101-93 overtime loss to the Heat in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday. "You got to do more than that. We had mental lapses. We can't turn the ball over against this team at all because they get on the break and they're really tough to stop in that situation."

The Bulls had 19 turnovers, including two costly ones in overtime and couldn't keep up with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh who combined for all 16 of the Heat's point in the extra session.

Derrick Rose boldly announced he planned to try to put a sputtering Bulls offense on that back as he and his teammates aim to dig out of a 2-1 hole and reclaim home-court advantage in Tuesday's Game 4.

"I definitely believe in them," Rose said of his teammates. "But I want to see what I can do if I take the double-team on. I saw what the double-team did the last two games. My passing the ball the majority of the time really isn't working. Or we're not running the right play to get people open. We went over the plays and play calls (Monday). (Tuesday), I have to be way more aggressive."

Rose, the youngest MVP in NBA history, is averaging 23 points and 6.3 assists in the series. But he's shooting just 39.1 percent and scored a combined four points in the fourth quarters of Games 2 and 3.

Joakim Noah was fined $50,000 Monday by the NBA for directing an anti-gay slur toward a fan during the first quarter of Sunday's Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals.

The NBA office announced that Noah was fined for "using a derogatory and offensive term from the bench."

A league spokesman said Noah was fined less than the $100,000 assessed the Lakers' Kobe Bryant for using the same term because "Kobe's fine included discipline for verbal abuse of a game official."