Pascal Siakam #43 of the Toronto Raptors celebrates against the Chicago Bulls during the second half of their basketball game at the Scotiabank Arena on February 28, 2023 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Mark Blinch/Getty Images/AFP
Pascal Siakam had 20 points and eight rebounds and the Toronto Raptors defeated the visiting Chicago Bulls 104-98 on Tuesday night.
Gary Trent Jr. added 19 points off the bench for the Raptors, who have won eight of their past 10 games.
O.G. Anunoby scored 17 points, Jakob Poeltl had 14, Scottie Barnes scored 11 and Fred VanVleet tallied just three points on 1-of-11 shooting but added nine assists.
LET'S GOOOOOOOO 😤@ScottBarnes561 ➡️ @pskills43 pic.twitter.com/Ps5ME4zFeZ
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) March 1, 2023
Nikola Vucevic scored 23 points for the Bulls, who had won their two previous games. Zach LaVine added 17 points, DeMar DeRozan scored 13 points and Ayo Dosunmu scored 10.
Chicago took a two-point lead into the fourth quarter.
Trent’s steal set up a layup and free throw by Scottie Barnes that gave Toronto a four-point lead with 7:49 left.
Trent’s 3-pointer put Toronto ahead by seven points with 6:35 remaining. Anunoby’s dunk bumped the margin to nine with 6:02 left.
OH MY. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/anLyYOowZP
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) March 1, 2023
Chicago trimmed the lead to five points before Siakam’s tip layup had the lead at seven with 3:27 to go. Chicago scored the next four points before Siakam made one of two free throws with 2:11 to play.
DeRozan made one of two free throws with 17.2 seconds to play, cutting the deficit to three. Toronto led by five when Trent made two free throws with 15.2 seconds left.
Toronto led 24-23 after one quarter.
The Bulls used a 10-0 spurt to take a six-point lead with 2:05 remaining in the second quarter. Toronto finished the first half with four straight points, capped by Siakam’s two free throws to cut Chicago’s lead to 46-44.
The lead reached eight when LaVine made two free throws with 9:32 to play in the third quarter. Poeltl answered with six straight points.
Trent’s 3-pointer gave Toronto a one-point lead with 3:19 left in the third. LaVine’s 3-pointer with 45.7 seconds to play completed the third-quarter scoring and gave Chicago a 72-70 lead.
Toronto signed free-agent guard Will Barton, who was bought out by the Washington Wizards. He played four minutes with no points on Tuesday.