Zach LaVine scored eight of his 24 points in the fourth quarter and the Chicago Bulls defeated the visiting Toronto Raptors 114-102 on Thursday night.
The Bulls overcame a career- best 35 points by Toronto’s Stanley Johnson, who also had 10 rebounds.
Lauri Markkanen added 20 points off the bench and Nikola Vucevic tallied 16 points and 16 rebounds for the Bulls, who kept their faint chances for the play-in tournament alive.
The depleted Raptors, who already had been eliminated from playoff contention, have lost five in a row.
The Bulls (30-40) won all three games against the Raptors (27-43) this season.
Coby White added 17 points and 10 assists for the Bulls, and Javonte Green and Thaddeus Young each scored 10 points.
Jalen Harris added a career-best 17 points for Toronto. Malachi Flynn added 16, Khem Birch 14 points and DeAndre’ Bembry 12.
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The Bulls led by as many as 24 points during the third quarter, but the margin was cut to 12 entering the fourth.
Johnson’s 3-pointer cut the deficit to nine with 5:58 to play, but Markkanen responded with a 3-pointer and White hit a jumper to increase the lead to 14 with 4:51 remaining.
The Bulls led 30-27 after one quarter.
The Bulls pulled ahead by 18 points on White’s dunk with 6:10 remaining in the second. Chicago led 66-47 at halftime.
Patrick Williams scored five straight points to stretch Chicago’s lead to 24 with 9:42 to play in the third quarter. The Raptors finished the quarter on a 14-4 run to cut Chicago’s lead to 88-76.
Toronto’s Yuta Watanabe (ankle) left the game in the second quarter and did not return. He had no points in nine minutes.
Among those missing the game for the Raptors were OG Anunoby (calf), Kyle Lowry (rest), Fred VanVleet (hip), Pascal Siakam (shoulder). Rodney Hood (hand) and Chris Boucher (knee).
Daniel Theis (hip) and Troy Brown Jr. (ankle) did not play for Chicago.
–Field Level Media