Raptors blow lead in 4th, fall to Bulls
Posted March 21, 2012 9:34 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — Luol Deng’s 17 points and 10 rebounds paced a balanced attack as the Chicago Bulls used a dominant fourth-quarter run to rally past the Toronto Raptors 94-82 Wednesday night.
Deng led five players in double figures as the Bulls (39-10) improved to 10-2 in March despite being outplayed over the opening three quarters. C.J. Watson had 15 points while John Lucas added 13 in just 17 minutes off the bench.
DeMar DeRozan’s 23 points paced the Raptors (15-32), who dropped to 7-15 at the Air Canada Centre on the season. James Johnson added 16 points, Jose Calderon chipped in nine points and eight assists and Andrea Bargnani finished with eight points on 2-of-10 shooting.
Donning camouflage jerseys in honour of their annual Canadian Forces Appreciation Night, the Raptors completely disappeared during an eight-minute span of the fourth quarter that may go down as their worst stretch of the season.
Down seven after three quarters, Chicago closed to within three on a Lucas three-pointer from the top of the arc after Calderon had missed back-to-back wide-open jumpers at the other end. Kyle Korver knocked down a three on Chicago’s next possession, and an Omer Asik block led to a Taj Gibson alley-oop dunk that put the Bulls in front for the first time since midway through the second quarter.
Lucas and Korver gave Chicago some breathing room with consecutive jumpers, and Chicago capped the 22-3 stretch with a technical free throw after DeRozan was whistled for jawing at an official.
Chicago prevailed despite playing without point guard Derrick Rose. The reigning NBA most valuable player missed his fifth straight game with a strained groin.
Toronto was the more disciplined team in the first half, forcing 10 turnovers while committing only three, and was rewarded with an eight-point lead at the break. That grew to double digits early in the third quarter before the Bulls charged back, a Carlos Boozer 14-footer trimming the Chicago deficit to five.
DeRozan helped Toronto stem the rally in the final minute, hitting a tough layup in traffic to send the Raptors into the fourth with a 69-62 edge.
Notes: The Bulls haven’t suffered consecutive losses since Feb. 5-7, 2011, a span of 81 games. It’s the fifth-longest streak in NBA history; the Utah Jazz hold the record, going 95 games without back-to-back defeats from November 1997 to March 1999. … Raptors G Jerryd Bayless played just a minute and a half after aggravating a hip pointer injury that forced him out of Tuesday’s game against New York. … Toronto needed just over six minutes to surpass its entire first-quarter point total (14) from its first encounter with the Bulls. … Chicago improved to 11-4 with Rose out of the lineup.
