Wednesday February 23 2011 – 10:21pm Eastern – Toronto, ON

Toronto improves to 16-42 on the season, beating the Chicago Bulls, 118-113

THE START

Raptors - James Johnson started in place of Sonny Weems;  Andrea Bargnan led the Raps with 8 PTS;  Johnson 3 REB in his 1st QRT with TOR
Bulls - Joakim Noah returned to the line up for the first time in 30 games and had 10 REB in the 1st QRT;  CHI out-rebounded TOR 16-9

AT THE HALF

Raptors - fell down by as many as 8 points but used a blistering 57.5% FG in the half to cut CHI’s lead to 3 at the break;  Jose Calderon with 12 first half ASST
Bulls - Derrick Rose struggled to just 2/9 FG for 6 PTS in the half;  Chicago had 17 fast-break points in the half;  Carlos Boozer with a team-high 15 PTS

AFTER 3

Raptors - put up their 2nd-straight 30-point QRT and take a 4-point lead after 3 (85-81);  good hustle/energy from J. Johnson;  holding Rose to 4/14 FG
Bulls - fell down by as many as 9 (a 12-point swing when you factor-in CHI’s 3-point halftime lead);  shooting only 42.6% FG as a team through 3

THE FINAL FRAME

Raptors - coughed up a 9-point lead and saw the Bulls tie it late;  Amir Johnson with 2 big FGs late (finished 8/8 FG) to ice the game (finsished with 17 PTS)
Bulls - Rose came alive for 19 points in the QRT and nearly brought the Bulls back to steal the game but he missed a late jumper that led to TOR winning

———-

ALSO OF NOTE

Raptors now 12-5 when leading after 3

Bulls now 2-12 when their opponent scores 100+ points

Rose scored 19 of his game-high 32 points in the 4th QRT

Calderon finished with 17 assists in 39:43 minutes

In his Toronto debut, J. Johnson had 9 poitns, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks in 26:29 min

Toronto is now 10-8 this year when holding teams under 45% FG

Noah grabbed 16 rebounds in 24:36 minutes for CHI

Chicago scored 30 fast break points (Toronto, #1 in the league in that category, had 15)

The Raptors scored 58 of their 118 points in the paint

———-

Post-game interview with Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan (24 PTS, 4 ASST, 3 REB) + highlights from the game and audio from our post-game show, “The Rap”:

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/DeMar-DeRozan-es-20110223.mp3]

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/Raptors-Game-Highlights-es-20110223.mp3]

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/The-Rap-es-20110223.mp3]

———-

The Raptors will stay in Toronto and get set to host Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns on Friday evening at the ACC.  Paul Jones and I will be on the air that night at 7pm with the tip off.

Have a good one.

E. Smith

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