Toronto, ON (My Sportsbook) - Chris Bosh scored a game-best 28 points to go along with 11 rebounds, as Toronto beat Chicago, 99-89, in a tale of two halves at the Air Canada Centre.
The Bulls shot 52 percent from the floor in the opening half and held a 12-0 edge in second-chance points, scoring 60 points in the first 24 minutes. The second 24 were far different, as they totaled just 29 points with 11 in the fourth quarter on 3-of-21 shooting.
Chicago missed its last 15 shots with Luol Deng's jumper its last field goal with 9:21 to play. That jumper gave the Bulls an 84-81 edge, but Toronto used an 18-5 stretch, which included 14 straight points at one point, to push in front to stay.
"We just didn't make shots, especially in the fourth quarter. We had good looks and we didn't knock them down," said Deng.
Jose Calderon added 18 points with six assists for the Raptors. Andrea Bargnani totaled 16 points and Hedo Turkoglu added 11 for the Raptors, who snapped a brief two-game skid.
The Bulls were led by Deng and rookie Taj Gibson, who both scored 18 points. Gibson added five boards to his career-best point total, while Joakim Noah registered his fifth double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Derrick Rose chipped in with 14 points and six assists for the Bulls, who lost both games of a back-to-back, which included Tuesday's 90-89 loss to Denver.
Chicago still had a three-point advantage at 88-85 after Gibson sank two free throws with 6:24 to play, but the Raptors reeled off the next 14 points in succession. The burst started with two Bosh free throws and ended with Bargnani's two free throws with 46 seconds to play.
The Bulls were far more comfortable on the offensive end in the first half, using an 11-3 half-closing spurt to take a 60-53 lead. Most of the points came in the final two minutes as John Salmons buried a trey for a 54-51 lead then Deng tipped in a Salmons miss about 30 ticks later.
Noah answered a Bosh slam dunk with one of his own and Deng's pull-up jumper in the closing seconds capped the scoring.
"We knew we were playing poorly on defense. It was about effort and we had to fix it," said Bosh.
Toronto drew closer in the third stanza, holding the Bulls to just 18 points and pulling within 78-77.
Game Notes
Bosh has scored 20 points or more in 15 straight games dating back to last season, the longest current streak in the NBA...This marked the first game Toronto did not reach 100 points this season...The Raptors made 40.9 percent of their shots, while Chicago managed to connect on just 39.8 percent from the floor...Kirk Hinrich scored 11 off the bench for the Bulls...Toronto's newest first-round draft pick, DeMar DeRozan, scored nine points and pulled down nine rebounds.
Game Notes
Bosh has scored 20 points or more in 15 straight games dating back to last season, the longest current streak in the NBA...This marked the first game Toronto did not reach 100 points this season...The Raptors made 40.9 percent of their shots, while Chicago managed to connect on just 39.8 percent from the floor...Kirk Hinrich scored 11 off the bench for the Bulls...Toronto's newest first-round draft pick, DeMar DeRozan, scored nine points and pulled down nine rebounds.
