Casey was asked before the game whether his Raptors were greater than the sum of their parts and replied, perhaps, mostly because of two things. The benefit of continuity — bringing most of last year’s team back — and because he has a collection of gritty, hard workers. “I see our team like a hungry team. We have to play hard with a chip on our shoulder as a group,” Casey said. “I think (continuity has) helped us this year. Guys understanding terminology. Certain situations they know how to react and we’re reacting much better in late game situations now. It’s helped us a lot.” But not on this night.
The reality is, the Raptors were playing the second half of a back-to-back, while the rested Bulls had been off since Friday. The Raptors were without DeMar DeRozan, their leading scorer, while Chicago welcomed Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson back to the lineup. Most of all, the reality is, the Raptors got outplayed by a battle-tested team when it mattered most. “We were due for a stinker,” Casey said following his team’s 129-120 loss to the Bulls. “We had one tonight.” After seeing their 12-point third-quarter advantage wiped out, thanks in large part to a seven-minute scoring drought, the Raptors went into the fourth clinging onto a three-point lead before things went from bad to embarrassingly bad. The Bulls made 14 of their 20 shots over the final 12 minutes of the game. They attempted 22 of their 47 free throws and scored 49 points – the most Toronto has surrendered in any quarter during the franchise’s 20-year-history. “We didn’t play defence,” acknowledged Kyle Lowry – not that it needed to be acknowledged – who had 18 of his game-high 34 points in the high-scoring fourth frame. “They executed extremely well. 49 points… Give them credit. Give them credit.”
The Bulls shot 54 per cent from the field, Toronto committed 30 fouls that led to a 43-of-47 night from the foul line for Chicago and the Raptors went stone cold from the field for long stretches of the second half. Chicago may have put up 49 points in the fourth quarter; Toronto scored 50 in the entire second half. “Whatever we were from three (nine-for-30 as a team), going down the stretch I thought we should have started attacking their feet,” said Casey. “Kyle (Lowry) did that at the end and we started scoring. “We have to find a happy medium, we missed some wide open looks — whether it was back-to-back legs or whatever — but then you have to be smart to attack the rim, attack the basket and draw and kick. That’s what they did to us.” It’s not as if the problems are unfixable and that anyone should be too concerned about the outcome of one game a third of the way through the regular season.
DeRozan could’ve helped in all phases with his ability to draw fouls via his near-impossible-to-defend straight-line drives, which also help with spacing since teams often have no choice but to send help when he makes a move to the basket. As clearly evidenced by his fourth-quarter heroics, Lowry can do just about everything for the Raptors, including brave drives to the hoop. However, he isn’t like DeRozan in that every time he heads to the hole with a full head of steam he’s going to hear the whistle and that was something that hurt Toronto’s chance at a comeback. Following this loss, the road is only going to get tougher for the Raptors as they embark on a five-game Western Conference road trip after Christmas. Four of the five teams they’ll meet are in the conversation of the NBA’s elite, meaning more tight games are likely on the way.
Bulls have defensive trouble early, but hold off Raptors for win | Chicago Sun Times
After missing two games with an illness, Derrick Rose looked like his old self in his return to the lineup. He scored 15 of his team-leading 29 points during a 49-point fourth quarter, the highest-scoring quarter in franchise history. The game was a reminder this Bulls team isn’t the same as the ones that sometimes struggled to score in the past. The 2014-15 Bulls have numerous scoring threats, including the emerging Jimmy Butler. Though he wasn’t able to match his 30-plus-point efforts of the last two games, Butler added 27 points and grabbed a team-leading 11 rebounds. The Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson are regarded as the NBA’s best backcourt, but Rose and Butler looked the part against the Raptors.
Bulls ‘just win’ with 49-point fourth quarter | DailyHerald.com
The Bulls rallied from a 12-point deficit midway through the third quarter to beat the East-leading Toronto Raptors 129-120 on Monday night at the United Center, by a score that was more common for the 1970s. In the process, the Bulls set a franchise record for points in a quarter by scoring 49 in the fourth. The previous record of 47 points was set on Jan. 3, 1975, against Phoenix. “That’s what we like,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “I don’t care how we win, as long as we win. Low-scoring, high-scoring, medium-scoring — just win.”
Game Rap: Raptors 120 Bulls 129 | Toronto Raptors
Solid guard depth, big bench performances and the ability to shut the door in the fourth quarter have all been factors in the Raptors’ franchise-best start. On Monday, the Bulls used all of those things against them. The Bulls scored 49 fourth-quarter points on 70 per cent shooting from the field and a seemingly endless parade to the free throw line in the final frame. Those 49 points are a Bulls’ franchise record for points in a quarter. But the Raptors managed to survive until around seven minutes to go in the fourth when they went ahead 95-94 on a Kyle Lowry runner. Chicago responded with a quick 6-0 run and continued to build their lead to as many as 13 points with just over a minute to play. “They’re a great team. We knew it coming in,” said head coach Dwane Casey. “You can’t think you can just outscore people. Our defensive attention to detail was just not there.”
Chicago’s Close Outshines Toronto’s Open, Bulls Win 129-120 | Raptors HQ
In the fourth quarter, Chicago’s disruptive defense messed with what the Raptors wanted to do on offense. It didn’t necessarily cause turnovers – the Raptors committed only seven on the night – but it did turn a lot of Toronto possessions into isolation plays. Lowry’s circus shots kept his team close momentarily, but eventually the wasted possessions added up. On the other end, Chicago buried 49(!!) points in the final quarter and, with Rose and Butler both explosive, looked every bit the team many have expected to represent the East in June. Before that, the Raptors will have one more kick at the can – these two teams meet again on March 20. So, the Raptors will head into their holiday break on a low note. They get four days off before a flight to Los Angeles, as a west coast swing gets underway.
Post Game: Toronto Raptors fall to Chicago Bulls | Raptors Cage
Absolutely inexcusable. Sure, defensive specialist Landry Fields sat out, but that gives little justification to the surrender of 49 points in 12 minutes to any team in the NBA. Rose continually exploded to the basket with minimal difficulty. Noah recorded nine points on 2-2 shooting. There is no question that coach Dwane Casey is furious after this dismal performance on the defensive end. Look for significant improvement in the coming games.
15 footer: Projecting 60-win teams | Hardwood Paroxysm
The Raptors have a balanced team, and are getting contributions from all positions. DeMar DeRozan went down with a groin injury, and the Raptors have just kept on winning. Kyle Lowry is having an All-Star caliber season, averaging 19.5 points, 7.8 assists, and 4.6 rebounds per game while shooting 44 percent from the floor. They have great odds of reaching 60 wins because of one special skill they have that none of the other teams share – membership in the Atlantic division. With Brooklyn, New York, Boston and Philadelphia challenging the Raptors for the division title, might as well place the order for the banner now and get a Christmas discount on it. The Raptors have a 10 game lead on the Nets, and it isn’t even 2015 yet. With 22 wins on the season, the Raptors only have 7 fewer wins than the rest of the division combined. The blessing of their schedule is also a challenge. They have a 15-4 record within their conference, with a slew of Western Conference games still on the schedule. Getting DeRozan back on the court for those games is imperative, as wins won’t come as easily on the road against teams that field a competitive lineup. We the North should be apprehensive of their upcoming Western Conference games.
Kelly: Botched logo rollout first sign of trouble in Raptors, Drake partnership | The Globe and Mail
First, the “execution.” By that, he apparently means the way in which the images were released. They were first shown briefly in a video released on Friday afternoon. That was quickly followed by a colour image posted to the team’s Facebook page. That was hastily pulled down, replaced by a black-and-white image. Then, much later in the day, a variety of logos were released, in varying colour schemes. What happened is not clear. What is clear is that the whole thing was an unintended marketing fumble. The new logo is designed by ad agency Sid Lee, the same people behind the We The North campaign. If he was bothered by the botched release, Drake is apparently more upset by the colour scheme. He had pushed hard for the team to make a holistic switch to black-and-gold. Instead, the Raptors are sticking with their current palette: red-black-white-silver. Drake was part of all these discussions. He just didn’t get his way. “He wasn’t overruled,” said an MLSE source. “Overruled isn’t the right word, because it’s not like he had the final say.”
Drake distancing self from Raptors rebrand | Toronto Sun
But, Drake tweeted, “Actually this redesign was executed without me. My collaboration with Mitchell & Ness comes out next season.” The plot thickens. While this was happening, a leaked photo of the Mitchell & Ness, Drake-inspired black and gold hats and t-shirts leaked on-line. Hmm. The thinking is Drake expected the re-design to centre far more around his OVO black and gold look. The team’s alternate uniform will be black and gold, but the primary logo has a red circle and a silver basketball as links to the past. Hardly a “full re-brand” then.
Is there a rebrand rift with Drake, Raptors? And three things from win over Knicks | Toronto Star
Maybe The Global Ambassador’s ticked that there is some minor amounts of red in the logo and some silver and that’s it’s not just black and gold. Maybe he’s heard that the uniforms are going to be white at home, primarily red on the road, black as a third with a couple of nights of gold. Maybe he doesn’t like the fact the Raptors got We The North and this new look from the design firm of Sid Lee and not the company he’s collaborating with. Something smells here.
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