MIAMI (AP):

THE CHICAGO Bulls left the court while Miami received their NBA championship rings, then returned to emphatically spoil what was left of the Heat's celebration on Tuesday night.

Kirk Hinrich - who signed a five-year contract extension just hours before tip-off - scored 26 points, Chris Duhon added 20 and the Bulls delivered a huge stunner in beating the defending NBA champion Heat 108-66 in the season opener.

Worst loss

It was, by far, the worst loss in NBA history for a defending champion on opening night; the previous low was the Los Angeles Lakers' 132-117 defeat to Golden State in 1982. The Lakers went on that season to win 58 games and return to the NBA finals under coach Pat Riley, the same man guiding the Heat these days.

Chicago seized command with a 37-14 second-quarter burst, a stretch where the Bulls connected on 79 per cent of their shots - compared to 29 per cent for the Heat, who simply never got rolling. The lead was 59-30 at half-time and just kept growing.

Dwyane Wade had 25 points before sitting out much of the fourth quarter for Miami, who didn't even have anyone else reach double figures.

The Heat turned the ball over 23 times, leading to 32 Chicago points, and were outrebounded 49-29.

Luol Deng had 12 points and Thabo Sefolosha - the league's first player from Switzerland - added 11 on 4-of-4 shooting for Chicago.

Antoine Walker had nine for Miami, while Shaquille O'Neal had seven points and five rebounds before sitting out the final 14:01.

Got rings

The Heat donned the same red uniforms they wore on June 20 in Dallas when they won the franchise's first title, and got their rings in an elaborate pre-game ceremony capped by raising the commemorative banner to the ceiling.

"In some cases, the home team get their rings and goes blub, blub, blub, blub because they're so pumped," said NBA commissioner David Stern, who handed out the jewellery to the Heat players, coaches and staff before the game. "I've been to a couple of those."