In the span of seven games, the Toronto Raptors have been good just as often as they've been bad. About the only thing they haven't been is predictable.
Playing on the road in the second of back-to-back games, the Raptors turned in an inspired effort and trounced the Chicago Bulls 101-71 at the United Center in Chicago on Saturday.
Toronto Raptors' Chris Bosh, right, battles for the ball with Chicago Bulls' Joe Smith during the first quarter of the NBA basketball game in Chicago on Saturday.
(Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press)
The game was also the fourth in five nights for the Raptors but the team seemed energized after looking woefully out of sync during a three-game slide. Perhaps most surprising was that the team looked vastly improved in Chicago, a city where the Raptors had dropped 15 of their previous 17 games.
"What's going on with this team?" T.J. Ford asked of the highly touted Bulls after the game.
Carlos Delfino scored a season-high 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the win for the Raptors (4-3), while five other Toronto players scored in double figures.
Ford, who was focused more on using his shot during Toronto's recent funk, returned to form as a devastating distributor — dishing out 14 assists for his teammates.
Rookie Jamario Moon started at small forward for Toronto and posted his second straight impressive performance — using a dizzying array of high-flying dunks to notch 12 points, six rebounds and three steals.
One day after an impressive block on fellow high-flyer Andre Igoudala of the Philadelphia 76ers, Moon had more impressive stuff against Bulls talented swingman Luol Deng and limited him to just 2-7 shooting from the field.
"We thought we could use his defence against this team," Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said. "I started him because I felt like taking a roll of the dice, I would take a chance tonight."
Toronto entered the locker room at halftime with a comfortable 51-40 lead, and used a 14-1 run early in the third quarter to put the game firmly out of reach. That prompted Bulls head coach Scott Skiles to pull his starters from the floor with 9:35 left in the third.
"I never want to do that. On a night when the boo-birds are out I don't want to embarrass the group like that," Skiles said. "I thought I would take a gamble right there to see if someone could come into the game and be a catalyst for us. I felt like in unison that group was not performing really well."
The Bulls (1-5), whose lack of offensive power was put on full display on Saturday, were led by reserve Andres Nocioni with 20 points and five rebounds.
Sophomore Tyrus Thomas was the only other Chicago player to score in double figures, with 11 points.
The Bulls performance on Saturday, coupled with recent media speculation of a trade for Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant, prompted loud chants of "Kobe! Kobe! Kobe!" while they were down 30-plus points in the third quarter.
"Obviously the Kobe chants is something that never seems like it will ever stop being talked about," Bulls point guard Kirk Hinrich said. "We understand the crowd's frustration. We're very frustrated as well."
With files from the Associated PressRelated
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