There are no moral victories in professional sports.

But Dwyane Wade sounded pleased that a belief he formed during training camp played out in reality as the Bulls rallied from a 16-point deficit to tie the Celtics late in Wednesday night's loss. The Bulls later had a chance to take the lead before Nikola Mirotic missed two free throws with 96 seconds left.

“I like the fight of this team,” Wade said. “I like the effort. When we were down (16), we just talked through it. We stayed positive.”

Jimmy Butler said Wade kept reminding his teammates they were fighters during fourth-quarter huddles.

“I said this coming out of the preseason: I didn't know a lot about what was going to happen but I knew this team had fight. You play that way, you're going to win more games than you lose,” Wade said. “You see teams get smacked and just fade away. You see this team get smacked and keep getting in your face.

“That's what I liked about this team from afar when we first got together. I thought especially our leaders like Taj (Gibson), big Rob (Lopez) are tough guys.”

Rotation roulette: Coach Fred Hoiberg rode Bobby Portis over Gibson in the fourth quarter and opted for Mirotic over Lopez, leaving the Bulls with little rim protection. Mirotic has closed over Lopez before. Portis hasn't over Gibson.

“I thought Bobby was giving us great energy,” Hoiberg said. “I put him in as a sub and he right away did some positive things and he kept it going. Also he's a guy who can step behind the line and make a shot. That was the lineup that got us back in the game so we stayed with it.”

The Celtics also were playing small.

“I'm just sitting back waiting for whatever Coach is going to do,” Gibson said. “I felt Bobby and Niko were doing a great job.”

Delicious drama: An unusual scene played out in Wednesday's postgame locker room as many players delayed showering to watch the Indians' three-run eighth inning that tied Game 7 of the World Series against the Cubs.

The team bus left for the airport before the rain delay. Wade later Tweeted good luck to the Cubs as the team plane took off. And Wade won his bet with LeBron James, who is supposed to come to the Dec. 2 Cavaliers-Bulls game at United Center in a full Cubs uniform.

Hoiberg had joked pregame that five people would be watching the Bulls' game back in Chicago.

“I'm a lifelong Cubs fan,” Hoiberg said. “I grew up watching Harry Caray back in the day on WGN before they had lights.”