Bulls at Raptors
The Toronto Raptors are in the unfamiliar position of needing to bounce back from a terrible performance after suffering their biggest loss of the season at Orlando on Friday. The Raptors will try to shake off the disappointing three-game road trip and get themselves right in Canada when they open a two-game homestand by hosting the Chicago Bulls on Sunday.
Toronto opened the road trip with a 126-101 loss at Philadelphia on Dec. 22 and earned a two-point win at Miami on Wednesday before getting crushed 116-87 at Orlando on Friday. "It's a strange one," Raptors coach Nick Nurse told reporters after watching his team open up a lead in the first quarter before falling apart. "I think if it started that way you would think 'oh, you didn't come ready to play,' but we were really sharp and moving the ball and popping it around and had a nice lead and probably should have had a bigger lead if we would have made more of our opportunities. And then the thing just turned, and we never really could get stops and we couldn't finish at the rim very well. Just was a really poor night for all of us." The Bulls finally reached double figures in wins with a 101-92 triumph at Washington on Friday and are playing better with victories in three of the last four games. "The main thing is that we are learning how to win," shooting guard Zach LaVine, who scored 19 of his 24 points in the second half on Friday, told reporters. "I knew I was going to be more aggressive in the second half. Just knowing me."
TV: 6 p.m. ET, NBCS Chicago, TSN (Toronto)
ABOUT THE BULLS (10-26): Friday marked the first time this season that LaVine, power forward Lauri Markkanen and point guard Kris Dunn started together, and the three are expected to be the building blocks for the future. "The defense has to honor Lauri, they have to be careful of Dunn," interim coach Jim Boylen told reporters. "They've got to bring two to him sometimes. When you have three good players like that, people know and are prepared. It's hard to stop three guys. You can maybe stop two and maybe they felt Zach didn't get off in the first half, but it's hard to hold a guy down when you play the right way." Markkanen finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds on Friday while Dunn added 13 points and eight assists.
ABOUT THE RAPTORS (26-11): Toronto is 7-7 in December and is fighting through injuries to a pair of key players in point guard Kyle Lowry (back) and center Jonas Valanciunas (thumb surgery). "We're not the first team to lose like this," point guard Fred VanVleet, who is starting in place of Lowry, told reporters after Friday's setback. "We bounce back. We've got a championship-caliber team. We'll be alright. I think that in my three years here we've been blessed to avoid the injury bug, so maybe it's catching up to us at one point." VanVleet was held to 11 points on 3-of-12 shooting and is 13-of-38 over the last three contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Raptors SF C.J. Milles is 6-of-34 from the field over his last six games, including 3-of-25 from 3-point range.
2. Bulls rookie PF Wendell Carter Jr. recorded 17 points and 13 rebounds on Friday for his sixth double-double.
3. Toronto breezed to a 122-83 win at Chicago on Nov. 17 - its sixth straight victory in the series.