The short-handed Raptors gave the Bulls everything they could handle and more as they came out and took a 10-point lead into the second quarter and then the Bulls started to chip away at it but with the Bulls 3 of 23 from beyond the arc the Raptors were able to take the Bulls to overtime which was the first time the Bulls were taken to extra time this season. The Bulls were without Derek Rose and Joakim Noah being tossed from the game after commiting a shooting foul and then got two techs ans hit the showers with 88 seconds left in the first half while Raptors who are still without Jerryd Bayless played the game without DeMar DeRozan who sat out his first game since the end of the 2009-10 season. Gary Forbes started in his place and was a beast on the boards with 13 to go with his 12 points as he was one of the three Raptors players who played 45 or more minutes and lead the team playing 47:05 but he also was able to almost salt the game away 6.4 seconds left on the clock in overtime as he was on the line shooting two with the Raptors up 101-100 but he missed both. This after James Johnson had a key block of a Luoi Deng shot that ended up in Forbes hands so it came down to a C.J. Watson shot that was redirected by Johnson again but fell into the hand of Luoi Deng who with his game sense immediately went up with the ball and received just in time to put up the winning basket in a 102-101 Bulls win from a foot away from the basket and the Bulls win their 40th game of the season and are 14-4 without Rose in the lineup.
James Johnson play 47:04 and lead the Raps with 20 points along with Jose Calderon to go with 4 blocks in the game and was one of the four Raptors with 8 or more boards with his 8 along with Arron Gray and Amir Johnson who shared time and both had 8 of the Raptors 58 boards to out rebound the Bulls by 14 and 36 on the defensive end where the Bulls had only 23 on the defensive end. Jose Calderon played 45 minutes and added 6 boards and 10 of the Raptors 19 assists in the game while Andrea still struggled with his shoot as he was 4 of 18 from the floor but is making it count from the line 8 of 10 and added 7 boards in 36 minutes so he still being a very big factor in the change in the Raptors style of playing and keeping it close.
The Bulls who shot 39% from the floor still got all around games from Luoi Deng who had 23 points and Carlos Boozer who had 24 points while both collected 10 boards along 4 assists and then C.J. Wilson added another 23 points for good measure.
Late in the game Dwayne Casey was not a happy camper as James Johnson had a fast break and Casey felt he was fouled as he moved to the basket without a call in the dying seconds of regulation and felt that Jose Calderon with pushed out of boards before Taj Gibson had a stick back jam. Then in overtime Andrea Bargnani was called for a double dribble with 3 minutes left and gave Courtney Kirkland a piece of his mind and the Raptors assistants had to escort Kirkland away from the Raps huddle and at the end of the game Casey and Kirkland got into before the Raptors headed to the locker room.
Casey is making the Raps into the best team in toronto
Tom Mehegan
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