Field Level Media
Dec 30, 2018
Kawhi Leonard scored 27 points and grabbed nine rebounds and the Toronto Raptors defeated the visiting Chicago Bulls 95-89 on Sunday.
Pascal Siakam added 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Raptors while Fred VanVleet and Danny Green added 10 points each.
Lauri Markkanen scored 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulls. Wendell Carter Jr. added 16 points and 11 rebounds, Kris Dunn had 14 points, Zach LaVine had 13 points while Justin Holiday and Chandler Hutchison had 11 each.
The Raptors, whose biggest lead of the game had been seven points, opened the fourth quarter on a 6-0 run to lead by nine points.
The Bulls responded with the next four points, trimming the lead to five before VanVleet's 3-pointer bumped the lead back to eight.
Dunn's driving dunk reduced that lead to four points with 3:05 to play.
Toronto regained a six-point lead on Leonard's layup, giving him at least 20 points in a career-best 13 straight games. Markkanen's 3-pointer with 1:21 remaining cut Toronto's lead to 85-82.
Leonard's two free throws and two more free throws by Siakam made it a seven-point game with 25 seconds left.
Markkanen hit a 17-foot, pull-up jumper at the buzzer to give the Bulls a 20-14 lead after one quarter. The 14 points were a season low for a first quarter by the Raptors.
Hutchison opened the second quarter with a layup and the Bulls led by eight. The Raptors used an 8-0 run to tie on a layup by Norman Powell.
The Raptors took a three-point lead on Leonard's 3-pointer with 42 seconds left in the half. After Dunn's fadeaway jumper, Toronto had a 40-39 halftime lead.
Leonard led the first-half scoring with 11 points while Siakam and Green each scored seven. Markkanen had seven points and eight rebounds for the Bulls.
LaVine's jumper had the Bulls ahead by five early in the third quarter. Then it was the Raptors who went up by five with 5:07 left in the third quarter on VanVleet's layup from a pass by Siakam. Two free throws by VanVleet increased the lead to seven with 2:44 left in the third.
Ryan Arcidiacono's steal and 3-pointer brought Chicago within two points with 1:39 to go. Toronto led 68-65 after three quarters.
--Field Level Media