The Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors battled for the top spot in the Eastern Conference Thursday night at the Air Canada Centre. The Bulls defeated the Raptors 100-93 and are still unbeaten on the road this season. After starting the season 4-0, it was the first loss at home for the Raptors.
DeMar DeRozan tried to make an impression early in the game with all of North America tuned in for the primetime TNT broadcast. He had a nice driving dunk in the first quarter, but forced up a lot of bad shots early on. He did pass Andrea Bargnani to become the third overall in points scored in franchise history, but Jimmy Butler’s defence caused him problems all game. He finished the game with only 10 points on 3-of-17 shooting from the field.
Jimmy Butler had a great game against the Raptors. He shut down DeRozan with his defence and also had a great a game offensively. He finished with 21 points which included a demoralizing alley oop off of an inbound play in the third quarter, 9 rebounds and 6 assists.
Performance of the night for the Raptors came from James Johnson off the bench. The former Bull played extremely well against his old team. At the end of the first quarter he drew a foul on Jimmy Butler from the beyond the arc and was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field in the first half. He finished the game with 16 points, 5 rebounds, 4 steals and 4 blocks in the game.
The Raptors’ backup point guard Greivis Vasquez tried to excite the crowd in the second quarter with an attempted dunk in transition.
In the second quarter the Bulls’ bench did not play well at all. In Chicago’s first four possessions they turned the ball over twice, were called for an illegal screen and a travelling violation. Led by the stellar play of James Johnson and the poor play of the Bulls’ bench the Raptors were ahead 52-45 at half.
In the beginning of the second half Jonas Valanciunas started things off with a huge dunk over Pau Gasol. Valanciunas finished with a decent stat line with 8 points and 8 rebounds on 4-of-8 shooting, but was completely outplayed in his match up in the post against Gasol.
Gasol was dominant down low against the Raptors. His length and post moves were too much for the Raptors’ bigs as he finished with a game-high 27 points on 12-of-19 shooting and also recorded 11 rebounds.
The Bulls made the necessary halftime adjustments and came out strong in the third quarter. The Bulls’ defence suffocated the Raptors and held them to only 14 points in the quarter. The Bulls’ offence also scored at will for a total of 35 points and carved the Raptors’ defence with repeated dribble drives and hand-offs for easy buckets in the paint.
Then things only got worse for the Raptors when Tyler Hansbrough went down hard in the fourth quarter. Hansborugh has played well so far this season providing energy off the bench, but left the game with a lower back contusion. He attempted to block a Joakim Noah shot in the paint after a defensive breakdown, but fouled Noah and fell awkwardly to the floor.
Tyler Hansbrough just tried to pull some WWE stuff
#rtz #WeTheNorth
— Đimitry Giunta (@DimitryyGii) November 14, 2014
The Bulls led by 18 points at one point in the fourth quarter, but the Raptors attempted a comeback. The team went on a 12-1 run which brought them within seven points. Then after a huge block by James Johnson on Gasol, Kyle Lowry dished it to Amir Johnson who finished with a slam dunk in transition that cut the lead to only five points. Unfortunately it was not enough for the Raptors as they were unable to complete the comeback against the Bulls.
The matchup everyone was excited to watch in this game was the point guard battle between Derrick Rose and Kyle Lowry. Despite not shooting a great percentage from the field, Derrick Rose put up some good numbers with 20 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds. Unfortunately he went down with a hamstring injury late in the fourth and did not return to the game. Kyle Lowry also played well in the matchup despite being in foul trouble for most of the game. He scored 20 points on 8-of-19 shooting and 4-of-7 from three with 8 rebounds and 8 assists.
This was the first real test for the Raptors this season and it looked like there was still plenty of work to be done if they want to join that elite tier of teams in the NBA. The Raptors still have an impressive record at 7-2, but they were clearly outmatched by the Chicago Bulls team. The Raptors have two more difficult games coming up in the schedule against the Memphis Grizzlies and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Although next game for Toronto is against the Utah Jazz at home Saturday night as they continue their home stand and look to get back on track.
EZ Bucket 