In a game where the Raptors trailed 21-8 in the first quarter and fought back to tie the game @ halftime 37-37 with help from a 7 straight points to open the second quarter as they went on a 9-0 run to cut it to 23-21 Bulls. The Raptors kept fighting in the third quarter and headed to the fourth quarter down 4 (56-52) the Bulls just were too much for the Raptors in the final quarter especially when the Bulls went on a 7-0 run to open the quarter as they were outscored 21-12 and lost 77-64.
The Raptors stood tall against the Bulls from the 3:25 mark of the first quarter and ended up being able to match them on the boards as each team had 26 at half and the Bulls end up getting two more boards (52-50) thanks to the fourth quarter where they out rebounded the Raptors 15-12 and 16-12 in the third quarter. The big thing before the fourth quarter for the Raptors other then that Bargnani was not on the floor was that the Raptors when they went to the hoop they would not go up strong so guaranteed points turned into another fail offensive possession as they had the ball rolling off the rim or off the backboard and fall out instead of in. The Raptors got much needed help from Gerry Forbes who came off the bench and played 16 minutes and spelled Jose Calderon who played 35 minutes tonight and a tough night with Derek Rose as he went 1 of 6 from the floor and had 8 assists while Forbes went 2 of 6 and had 5 assists but also had 8 boards in the game. Another nice surprise was James Johnson who hit shots as he went 6 of 10 from the floor for 12 points and had 3 boards and a steal before he had to leave after three quarters with a sprained ankle while Amir Johnson was great on the boards with 13 but had a bad shooting night going 3 of 11 from the floor. DeMar DeRozan and Barbosa lead the Raptors with 15 points and DeRozan had 4 boards and Barbosa had 6 and the Raptors ended up going to the line 7 times and hit only one.
The Bulls with the Eastern Conference record of 12 and 2 showed how even on a not so good shooting night they still have the starting bulls to get the job done shooting 40.2% from the floor and only taken 12 from the line but Rose still had 18 points (7 of 20 with 2 3's and 2 from the line) and 11 assists and Luol Deng had 14 points while Carlos Boozer had 13 boards to lead the team while pitching in with 17 points and both Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson had 12 boards. The Raptors bench outscored the Bulls bench 40-21 as only John Lucas III with 10 points and Taj Gibson with 11 points got on the score sheet.
Only wish the Raptors had played the Wiz, Nets, and Kings like they played the Pacers and Bulls
Tom Mehegan
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