Bulls complete comeback and advance to play Heat |
TORONTO - Win or Go Home. That was the motto for the Chicago Bulls when they traveled to Scotiabank Arena to face the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday. This was a play-in game matchup between the No. 10 and No. 9 seeds in the Eastern Conference, where the winner advances to Friday, and the loser goes home for the Summer.
Knowing what was at stake and given how Toronto has always been a tough matchup for Chicago, you knew the Bulls would have their hands full. Throughout the first half, you saw that, and the Bulls had no consistent offensive rhythm, making things difficult on the offensive side of the ball. Credit the Raptors and their defense for some of that, but the Bulls didn't help themselves, as they missed a lot of easy buckets and had costly turnovers. Another thing that didn't help is when you are one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the league, and you go 7-26 from distance which translates to just over 26%. The Raptors are not a very good shooting team from the outside either, but they knocked down 11 triples and really had things going in the first half. That included a half-court heave from Fred VanVleet right before the buzzer that put the Raptors in front 58-47 at the break and had things looking bleak for Chicago. The Raptors' momentum from that shot carried over into the second half, where they came out firing again to build a 19-point lead and had the Bulls searching for answers. At this point, the game completely shifted as the Bulls looked like an entirely different team in the final 18 minutes. Not only did they rally to close the gap to nine points entering the fourth, but they went on to play one of their better overall quarters of the season in that fourth quarter and held the Raptors to just 24 points in the final frame. Mix that with an offense that finally started to get into a rhythm late in the game, and you saw the Bulls come away with a 37-point quarter, the highest-scoring quarter by either side in the game. All that together saw the Bulls erase a 19-point deficit and turn it into a 109-105 victory as the Bulls advance to the final play-in game on Friday with a shot at the No. 8 seed on the line. After a less-than-stellar playoff performance last season, you can bet that Zach Lavine wanted to go out and prove he could handle the biggest lights on the biggest stage. He did that and more on Wednesday as Lavine put the team on his back and carried them in the second half as he finished with a game-high 39 points on 12-22 shooting. Getting near 40 points from your star player certainly helps, but other guys need to step up for the Bulls to reach the level they expect to. Although Demar DeRozan struggled in the first half, he still shot 10-19 from the field and added 23 points. Credit his daughter for being the game's biggest X-factor late as she helped annoy the Raptors at the free throw line late. With those two accounting for roughly 60% of the Bulls offense, all Chicago needed was consistent production from a few other players, and that should be good enough to win. Getting 14 points and 13 boards from Nikola Vucevic helps as he overcame a horrible shooting night from the outside. Chicago also saw Patrick Williams (10) and Coby White (9) have strong showings off the bench as the Bulls escaped with a huge win. To say the Raptors let this one get away would be an understatement, and you can bet that Nick Nurse and company will be kicking themselves all off-season after this loss. Pascal Siakam had his way with Chicago not only in the first but also in the second half, as he led the way for the Raptors with 32 points and nine rebounds. Siakam had the best season of his career this year, which continued into the postseason. After going through an up-and-down regular season, VanVleet picked a great time to show up, as he has been known to have clutch games in the postseason. The veteran PG added 26 points and connected for seven of the team's 11 triples, including the half-court heave that built a double-digit lead at the break. While those two were the main offensive options for the Raptors, Toronto still had two other starters in double figures that tried to put the Bulls away. One of those guys was Scottie Barnes, who came away with 19 points and 10 boards. After making things difficult for his mentor DeRozan in the first half, OG Anunoby had a little bit more difficulty in the second half and finished with 13 points. You could argue that the most significant difference in the game was the bench, where the Bulls tripled the Raptors second-unit production. It does help when two players come away with 19 points, but Toronto only had eight points from the second unit, and that did them in. Chicago will have one more crack at making the playoff field as they will head to Miami on Friday to take on the Heat in the final Eastern Conference Playin game. The loser goes home for the season, while the winner will get the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks.
