Quick Reaction: Raptors 97, Bulls 111

The NBA’s steals leader continued his dominance on Monday night, stripping the ball three times, doing an excellent job of closing out and making things difficult for the Bulls. He had a couple of wide open looks that missed the mark, but by no means did he hurt his team on offense. OG has been one of the best defenders in the NBA this season, tonight was another excellent showing on that side of the ball.

When Alex Caruso arrived at the United Center this evening, he probably wasn’t prepared to have his soul eaten. But with 1:05 left in the first half, that’s exactly what Scottie Barnes was hungry for. As Barnes turned the corner and barrelled towards the cup, the second year point forward flicked Caruso off his hip like a fly, then crowned him and Vuecevic in the process. Somewhere in the rafters of the building Chuck Swirsky could be heard yelling, “That was sick, wicked and NASTY”.

Koloko was aggressively running towards the rim tonight, and stood up to the challenge when he needed to stay in front of Chicago’s perimeter ball handlers. However, he’s still such a raw product and it shows in his often rushed decision making.

Gary played well tonight. His shooting kept his team in the game during stretches when Chicago really wanted to put vicegrip on the result. Trent didn’t try to do too much, something he’s often victim of when his team needs scoring. He let his game come to him and it showed.

With the Raptors best player in street clothes, FVV has made it clear this team is in very capable hands. Picking up where he left off last night, Rockford’s finest put on a show in front of his Illinois family and friends. At every given opportunity, VanVleet put pressure on the Chicago defense, set up his teammates for success and looked to force the issue in transition. An all-around gem from Fred in this one. Only thing missing was the W.

It wasn’t Slim Duck’s night tonight, but that wasn’t due to lack of effort. While his box score was nothing to write home about, Boucher fought for several rebounds and loose balls with a tenacity that made you think the Raptors were in this one at times when the Bulls were up big.

This was not the guy who played meaningful minutes in the NBA finals last year. Porter Jr. has been up and down so far this year and tonight was an example of the latter.

Precious is getting a lot better at pushing the ball in transition off of defensive rebounds. There were a few opportunities created by his appetite to do this tonight. He was active around the rim and made things difficult for the Bulls down low

It’s Danalo’s birthday today, and I really want to throw him a bone, but he just didn’t do very much to help his team tonight. Some errant passes and bricks were a constant in his game Monday night. Enjoy your cake big man.

Played serviceable D and didn’t hurt his team while he was out there.

Bo Cruz checked into the game in the second quarter and offered his team some life when they needed it. Great bench minutes from him in this one.

4-1-1 in 6 minutes of garbage time.

Back to backs are hard. They’re especially difficult when you’re playing a team that saw your schemes less than 24 hours ago. The Raps were a step slow on rotations tonight, but it’s hard to pin that on Nurse. His team just didn’t have the juice they showed up with last night.