Raptors beat Bulls 104-98 for 8th victory in 10 games

TORONTO (AP)— Pascal Siakam scored 20 points, Gary Trent Jr. had 19 and theToronto Raptors beat the Chicago Bulls 104-98 on Tuesday night fortheir eighth victory in 10 games.

O.G. Anunobyadded 17 points and Jakob Poeltl had 14 to help the Raptors wintheir fourth straight at home, matching their longest streak of theseason.

NikolaVucevic led the Bulls with 23 points and Zach LaVine had 17. DeMarDeRozan scored 13 points against his former team as Chicago fell to10-21 on the road.

The Bulls hadwon back-to-back home games after losing six straight before theAll-Star break, holding both Brooklyn and Washington below 90points, but couldn’t keep that streak going north of theborder.

Toronto had94 field goal attempts to Chicago’s 71 and outrebounded the Bulls47-35, including a 19-6 advantage on the offensive glass.

“They havesize everywhere,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said about the Raptors.“We did get hurt, no question, on the glass.”

The Bullsshot 37 for 71 overall and went 10 for 25 from 3-point range, buthad 20 turnovers that led to 21 points for Toronto.

“It’s hard toput up points in a game like that with what we did,” Donovan said.“I thought we were trying to play the right way and we were tryingdo the right things. We just didn’t execute as well as we neededto.”

Vucevic saidthe Bulls needed to work harder to battle for rebounds.

“We didn’t doa good enough job tonight of boxing them out and grabbing theball,” he said. “A few of them were 50-50.”

Raptorsforward Scottie Barnes struggled through the first three quarters,shooting 1 for 8, but scored eight points and had a season-highfour blocks in the final period.

“Thecompetitive side of him really starts emerging in the fourth,”Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “He just starts playing reallyphysical and really tough.”

Anunoby saidhe appreciated Barnes’ big finish.

“He wasamazing,” Anunoby said. “He was everywhere, making blocks, gettingthe ball and pushing, passing, finishing. He was doingeverything.”

Barnesfinished with 11 points. He had eight rebounds and fourassists.

Chicago led46-44 at the half. LaVine scored 11 points in the third and theBulls scored the final five points of the quarter to take a 72-70lead to the fourth.

TIP-INS

Bulls: AyoDosunmu scored 10 points and Andre Drummond had 10 rebounds. …Chicago waived G Goran Dragic, making him a free agent. The 15-yearveteran, 36, has missed the past four games because of a sore leftknee. … G Alex Caruso celebrated his 29th birthday.

Raptors:Barnes had a career-high five blocks against Sacramento on Dec. 13,2021. … Toronto signed G Will Barton and waived F JuanchoHernangomez. Barton averaged 7.7 points in 40 games with Washingtonbefore he was waived Feb. 21. He played four minutes in his Torontodebut Tuesday. … G Dalano Banton (left thumb) was notavailable.

FRED’S BACK

Toronto guardFred VanVleet returned after missing the past three games as hespent time at home for the birth of his third child. VanVleet shot1 for 11, going 1 for 9 from 3-point range and scoring threepoints, but still made an impact with nine assists and sixrebounds.

“It makes abig difference having Fred out there,” Anunoby said. “It definitelyhelps our team. He’s just a steady presence.”

GOODMONTH

Toronto went8-3 in February, its most victories in any month this season.

UPNEXT

Bulls: AtDetroit on Wednesday night.

Raptors:Begin five-game trip at Washington on Thursday night.