DeMar DeRozan scored 29 points, Zach LaVine added 23 and the Chicago Bulls beat the Toronto Raptors 111-105 on Wednesday night.
Nikola Vucevic also scored 17 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, scoring his fifth consecutive double and helping the Bulls win consecutive games for the first time since January 7.
Gary Trent jr. led the Raptors by 32 points, while OG Anunoby added 23 points. Toronto has lost six of its last nine games.
Trent scored 16 points in the third quarter, which helped the Raptors reduce their backlog to five. Anunoby hit a setback to put Toronto inside one in the fourth, eventually beating a dunk that gave the Raptors a 103-102 lead with 3:11 left.
A LaVine layup and releases from DeRozan pushed the Bulls back. Trent was then sent off after being called up for his second technical foul of the match. LaVine hit the technical free throw and Vucevic followed with a 3-pointer that clinched the win for Chicago.
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It looked like DeRozan made two technical fouls in the final minutes of the third quarter. His first, however, was considered a non-sporting technical foul because he grabbed the net illegally while playing defense, which allowed him to stay in the game.
Chicago opened the game with a 14-2 run and did not miss a field goal effort through the first six minutes. The Bulls ended the first quarter with 66.7% off the floor.
Toronto erased a 14-point deficit in the second and completed a 19-5 run with a Malachi Flynn three-pointer and a driving force lineup from Chris Boucher. The Bulls bounced back thanks to a combined 18 second-quarter points from LaVine and DeRozan. Chicago outscored the Raptors 26-9 in the final six minutes of the quarter and took a 67-50 lead at halftime.
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Raptors coach Nick Nurse has confirmed he will make his acting debut in the CBC-era crime drama “Murdoch Mysteries” next week. The episode will air Monday, and Nurse will appear as a locker room attendant in a basketball scene.
“It was a while back,” Nurse said of when his appearance was filmed. “These people call me and I say ‘sure, let’s go and see’ and just try to be coachable. It’s humiliating, it’s fun and it’s an honor to be able to do some of that stuff. ”
Nurse’s cameo was teased on Wednesday afternoon via the program’s Instagram account.
“Hopefully you can catch it,” Nurse said. “You’ll have to let me know what your criticism is of it.”
TIPS:
Raptors: Toronto was outscored 68-46. … G Fred VanVleet (knee) warmed up before the game but was injured at the last minute. He has missed the last two games for Toronto.
Bulle: F Derrick Jones Jr. (broken finger) will be evaluated in a week, but no surgery is currently expected. Jones broke his finger on Tuesday while training at the team’s training facility and is expected to miss six to eight weeks. … G Lonzo Ball will undergo surgery on his left knee on Friday morning.
FOLLOWING:
Birds of Prey: Saturday at Miami.
Bulls: Friday at San Antonio.
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