Finally healthy, Raptors resume season with win over Bulls

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A lot of Toronto Raptors were rusty following the NBA’s week-long all-star break, but not Brandon Ingram.

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Fresh off trip No. 2 to the all-star festivities, Toronto’s leading scorer lit up the Chicago Bulls for the second time this month, leading the Raptors to a 110-101 win.

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After dropping 33 on the Bulls in a home victory Feb. 5, Ingram scored 31 in Chicago, rescuing an offence that was otherwise way off. Ingram added a game-high six assists, including a big one to Collin Murray-Boyles who scored and was fouled late, seven rebounds (behind only Scottie Barnes, who had eight) and two of Toronto’s season-high 14 steals. Ingram added a clutch bucket with 36.1 seconds remaining to increase Toronto’s lead to seven points.

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Toronto improved to 10 games over .500 and 33-23 overall, rebounding from an ugly loss to Detroit just before the break.

Still, this one was closer than it needed to be. The game seemed to be in Toronto’s control, up nine with just over three minutes left, but Chicago went on a 7-0 run to really get the visitors sweating, before Murray-Boyles and Ingram saved the day.

Anfernee Simons led the Bulls with 20 points, Trey Jones was excellent with 12 plus six assists off the bench, but the team shot just 30% from three (the same as the Raptors, who missed their first seven attempts of the game) and committed 20 turnovers.

Some takeaways from an ugly one the Raptors easily could have lost (they shot terribly in the fourth and first quarters, but were playing a bad team):

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THE GANG’S ALL HERE

For at least one night, the Raptors had the whole gang together. With Jakob Poeltl available for a second straight game (albeit on a minutes restriction as he works his way back from a long absence) and Murray-Boyles available too after being held out prior to the all-star break (Murray-Boyles even got the start), Toronto had its full roster available for the first time since Nov. 7, when the season wasn’t even 10 games old.

Thursday marked only the fourth time this season that head coach Darko Rajakovic could choose from all of his options. Reserve big man Sandro Mamukelashvili had been questionable with the abdominal injury he picked up a couple of weeks ago, but was also a go.

Toronto is now 8-4 with this variation of the starting lineup (and 12-8 when Murray-Boyles has started in any combination), vs. 9-4 when Poeltl has started with the other four regular starters (and Murray-Boyles coming off the bench or not playing at all).

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Poeltl was actually the ninth Raptor to enter the game and didn’t look 100% in terms of game speed. Poeltl finished with only two points and did not collect a rebound in 16 minutes. Murray-Boyles had 11 points and six rebounds in 29 minutes and was strong defensively.

The odd men out Thursday were newcomer Trayce Jackson-Davis, shooter Jamison Battle, and veteran Garrett Temple.

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WALTER STANDS OUT

Second-year wing Ja’Kobe Walter played some strong minutes for the Raptors. He was extremely aggressive in playing the latter half of the first quarter, getting to the free throw line four times while also collecting two steals. After a quiet second quarter, Walter broke out for five points in the third.

He hit a big three-pointer in the fourth after the Bulls had closed within four points and was one of the best Raptors on the night.

Oddly, Walter has been a lot better on the road this season, shooting 48.4% from the field compared to 39% at home before going 4-for-9 against the Bulls for 14 points. He had shot 6-for-9 for 12 points and was +14 in the previous meeting with the Bulls.

Walter projects as one of the bigger X-factors for the team moving forward. Rajakovic has been giving him more minutes in February than at any prior point this season, and Walter has taken advantage. He seems to have supplanted Gradey Dick, drafted a year before him but struggling this season, in the rotation and Ochai Agbaji, who was ahead of him last year, has been traded.

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RUNNING OF THE BULLS

Chicago is entering a new era, having completely turned over the roster since a shocking comeback victory over the Raptors in a play-in game back in 2023.

Out have gone DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic and Alex Caruso, along with just about everyone else, and now Matas Buzelis and Josh Giddey will lead a retool.

This franchise badly needs high draft picks, and in unloading Vucevic and top guard Coby White this season, is attempting a reload. The Bulls entered the night 10th-worst in the standings, and it’s unlikely they’ll be able to lose enough games to “catch” the bottom 5 teams for the best lottery odds.

With the result of the game Thursday, the Bulls have lost 10 of their past 11 games, and are now ninth in the reverse standings.

Still, odd things happen at the lottery all the time, and the franchise once won with just 1.7% odds and landed hometown star Derrick Rose.

Only Patrick Williams remains from the team that beat the Raptors in 2023.

Three Bulls, including Giddey, were on minutes restrictions Thursday and the team was coached by Wes Unseld Jr., with Billy Donovan away following the death of his father.

@WolstatSun

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