Raptors show distance from NBA’s bottom tier in professional win over Bulls

CHICAGO — Wherever this Toronto Raptors season ends up over the next few weeks or more, it should probably be appreciated that it’s not here. 

Not ‘here’ as in Chicago. Nothing wrong with Chicago. The pizza is great, the downtown architecture is eye-catching. 

But ‘here’ as in where the Bulls are: starting a rebuild they should have begun years ago and nothing to do but play out the string, waiting for lottery luck. 

‘Here’ as in, stuck in a not very full, not very loud United Center, where the fans have had a playoff team to support just once in nine years and likely won’t for a while yet. 

‘Here’ as in the biggest wave of energy in the crowd all night was when the Dunkin’ Donut race played out in the third quarter on the video board.  Or at least it was until five-foot-seven Japanese point guard Yuki Kawamura hit a jumper with 4:13 left in the fourth quarter. 

That shot cut the Raptors' lead to 33, but somehow Toronto was able to weather the storm for the 139-109 win. 

It was Toronto’s third straight and the first on their five-game road trip. The Raptors will travel to Denver for their meeting with the Nuggets on Friday with a 39-29 record and in fifth place (as of Thursday morning) in the tightly packed Eastern Conference, a full game up on Orlando in sixth, and two-and-a-half games behind Cleveland in fourth.

Where all of that ends up taking the Raptors this season and beyond is an open question. Afterall, Toronto was a little bit late to start their own rebuild a couple of years back and how they transition to a championship-level basketball team from where they are now doesn’t seem obvious.

But for the moment? 

A Raptors team that is taking charge of its destiny well into the meaty part of the NBA schedule for the first time in four seasons and just the second time in six is refreshing. Fun even.

This is a team doing everything it can to earn a playoff spot and be at its competitive best when it gets there. After losing six of eight in dispiriting fashion, the Raptors have rebounded with three straight wins — the two previous to the Bulls game coming convincingly against the Detroit Pistons and the Phoenix Suns. They are building a case.

“The past three games have been a very good turning point for us,” said RJ Barrett, who led all scorers with 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including 3-of-7 from three. “We had a little lull there, trying to figure things out and we’ve figured it out. We’ve seen what we need to do and we’ve done it for the past three games. So now, having figured that out, we just have to try to do that consistently.” 

They did plenty of things that were worth repeating. 

The sequence in the second quarter when Jakob Poeltl (17 points, eight rebounds), looking spry as he has all season, blocked a Bulls lay-up at one end, sprinted the floor to connect with Barrett for an easy score on a pick-and-roll at the other and then returned the favour by hitting a cutting Barrett on the next offensive possession? 

More of that can only be good. 

Or when Barrett hit Scottie Barnes (18 points, seven rebounds and three assists on 6-of-10 shooting) in the post and Barnes rocketed a cross-court skip pass over the defence to a wide-open Sandro Mamukelashvili (17-4-5 in 22 minutes) for what was the Raptors' 10th three on their 18th attempt midway through the third quarter? That was good too. There were other examples.

“I thought that all the guys, the starters, they took this game very, very seriously and off the bench (everyone) did a really, really good job,” said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic. “So one complete game.” 

Whether that means the Raptors can excel in the playoffs or if they’ll be a quick first-round out or even stumble in the play-in tournament is an open question. 

But what is a cold, hard fact is that the Raptors are way better than the NBA’s bad teams, of which the Bulls are very much one. However far the Raptors end up going, they are a long way from that. 

Wednesday’s win was the Raptors' 18th win over teams that are currently in the bottom 10 of the league. They’ve only lost five of those matchups. 

Most importantly, the Raptors didn’t toy around with their food against Chicago. They treated the Bulls like a signature deep-dish pizza and dug in. 

They exploded out of the gate and were up 32-17 after the first quarter and 72-45 at halftime. The Bulls were defensively indifferent, but that shouldn’t take away from the fact that, in what was effectively an up-tempo scrimmage, the Raptors executed at a high level, counting 24 of their 33 assists through the first three quarters.

The result was all five starters finished in double figures, and Ja’Kobe Walter (18 points on 4-of-6 shooting, a pair of threes and 8-of-9 from the free throw line) joined Mamukelashvili in crossing the 10-point threshold off the bench. 

It was a professional night’s work. 

Through the three quarters — both teams pulled their starters early in the fourth with the Raptors up by 36 — Toronto was shooting 59.7 per cent from the floor and 50 per cent from three, converting 11 of their 22 attempts.

“This is the time of year you gotta get some wins,” said Barrett. “You gotta lock in even more. And as a vet, it’s just knowing the time to kick it into that extra gear.”

Chicago may have been easy pickings — the Bulls are now 5-18 in their past 23 games and 28-41 on the season — but the Raptors' execution was on point. 

With 14 games to go and a playoff spot in hand, they just need more of it. 

Three-point Grange: 

Being ready: The Chicago Bulls' trade deadline sell-off has created a great opportunity for Toronto’s Leonard Miller. The third-year forward was acquired from Minnesota in February and got the start against his hometown Raptors on Wednesday. He ended up playing 27 minutes and scored 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting. In 14 games with Chicago since being acquired at the deadline, Miller has played more minutes (273) than the 179 minutes he played over two-plus seasons as a raw prospect taken 33rd overall in the 2023 draft. The six-foot-10 Miller had started four straight games prior to Wednesday and put up 14 points, 8.8 rebounds (including 3.3 on the offensive end) on 52.3 per cent shooting (28.6 per cent from three).

“I mean, he's got a really good motor. He's good on the glass,” said Bulls head coach Billy Donovan. “I think, like any young player who did not really get a chance to play a lot early in his career … he's got to get better in terms of the game plan and discipline, knowing the league, knowing who he's guarding, those kinds of things. But I think he shoots the ball fairly well. He can put it on the floor some. I think he can be a very, very promising guy for us. I think what he's done to this point in time, in a short period of time (of) getting the opportunity to play, he's taking full advantage of it.”

Being ready II: When I spoke with Miller before the game, he said he’s tried to keep things simple in his first steady drip of NBA minutes. Producing has never been a problem for him: The 22-year-old has averaged 20.1 points and 10.2 rebounds on 51.6 per cent shooting (35.2 per cent from three) over 55 G-League games played over three seasons. But there weren’t development minutes available for him in Minnesota on a deep, veteran team with championship aspirations. In Chicago, there are plenty, but he’s not taking them for granted.

“Just staying locked in and doing what I've been doing my whole life, playing with a good amount of effort to help my team win,” he said of his approach. “I mean, winning habits like hustling, effort, rebounding, defence, running the floor in transition … I feel like that's what the team needs and what the coach wants — and not being afraid to be aggressive on the offensive end.” There should be a place in the NBA for a rangy six-foot-10 player who runs well and plays with high energy.

Miller was late to elite basketball — he played just one season at prep school before joining the now-defunct G-League Ignite program. But he’s landed in a situation where he can play and play through his mistakes, which bodes well. “There's a lot of stuff that I actually need to do that makes us special. And I’m trying to do those things to the best of my ability … but I feel like preparation, and my belief in myself, has helped me get this far. I know what I’m capable of and so the fact that they can trust me to go out there and help us is good to see.”

The 15th man part … 3? I feel like I’ve been trying to solve for this last roster spot for too long now, given the relative value of the solution. But we are getting to the point of the season where finding something ‘new’ gets a little harder, so I will persist, possibly against my better judgment. I had some conversations last week that led me to believe the Raptors were going to add someone on a 10-day contract for this current road trip but there were no new faces at with the club Wednesday in Chicago.

I should add that the amount of attention I’ve given to it outweighs its significance, first of all. At this point, the likelihood of Rajakovic giving meaningful playing time to anyone outside his top eight or nine players, let alone someone added on a 10-day deal at this stage, is minimal (shout out Mo Bamba). But having checked in again, I feel assured there is a plan to add someone on a 10-day, just not today or tomorrow. It’s worth noting that Raptors 905 play in Salt Lake against Utah’s G-League team the morning of Monday, March 23. So if the Raptors wanted to sign, say, Markelle Fultz (the former No. 1 pick trying to work his way back to the NBA with Raptors 905) to a 10-day at that point, they at least save a plane ticket, I guess.