After an ugly loss against Charlotte, Toronto flew back home to take on the Chicago Bulls and their star Derrick Rose. With new acquisition James Johnson from Chicago in hand, T.O. proceeded to play a gutsy and heartfelt game with Andrea Bargnani and DeMar DeRozan playing terrific, both scoring 24 points. Bargnani took 11 free throws and grabbed 8 rebounds. DeRozan attempted 8 free throws and played aggressive. He used his athleticism at will and slammed down 3 dunks, many of which prompted TV play-by-play man Matt Devlin to exclaim,"No props needed!" This of course, is a reference to his fine Slam Dunk Contest performance in which he AGAIN used no props to throw his two first-round dunks. It also convicts the other dunkers of cheating by using the props. As for the game, this one was close with neither team leading by more than 9 points. Toronto did however, get some measure of a good lead up on the Bulls in the 4th quarter with a 10-3 run. This gave the team a 102-94 lead with 4:39 left in the game. Chicago didn't quit however, with Derrick Rose leading the charge on a 13-5 run to tie the game at 107-107. Did Toronto quit? Nope. Take 4 straight DeMar DeRozan free throws, a crucial layup from Amir Johnson, a defensive block from Amir and add three free throws from Sonny Weems and James Johnson and you have a Raptors victory secured. What about the new guy? James Johnson played a fine game with 9 points and 3 blocks and he even tried trash talking his former team mates throughout the game. Two of those points came via an alley-oop pass from DeMar DeRozan that had the good-sized Air Canada Centre crowd out of their seats. Now some numbers...
- Raptors shot 58% from the floor - a season-high for Bulls opponents
- 32 free throws made by Toronto
- Raptors 0-5 from 3-point territory
- Derrick Rose - 19 points in 4th quarter
- Jose Calderon - 17 assists, his 6th straight 10+ assists game
Read the recap.
Now, for the interesting Bulls fan comments. You can view them here. These ones were interesting because they came after Toronto beat the Bulls last night. In other words, the fans were upset over ONE LOSS to Toronto, but because of the opponent, the attitude is one of unwarranted panic! Wow...just...wow! Here are the best ones. Enjoy, and have a good one!
comment from lewismarien on 12:44 AM on Thursday, February 24, 2011: " I'm SO SICK of seeing the Bulls lose against teams that have the worst records in the NBA. Ugh. I watched the beginning of this game, thinking it would be an easy victory for us, but nope."
comment from Cardiae ArrogantSwagg Dunn on 1:29 AM on Thursday, February 24, 2011: "MAKE A DAM TRADE ALLREADY MAN SMH! Bogans is gonna be our downfall in the playoffs man.. He only put up 3 points...3 F n POINTS!?!?! smh Please make a move Bulls Front office He is killin us"
comment from Peter John Jimenez on 4:55 AM on Thursday, February 24, 2011: "Unless we got that All-Star level SG who average over 20 points per game were totally a dud."
comment from Jimmie Chess on 6:00 AM on Thursday, February 24, 2011: "All you Bulls fans that ready to make Tom Thibodeau. the coach of the year please reconsider. This rookie coach needs some help. Remember how crazy I sounded when I said James Johnson didn't get an opportunity at Chicago Wow! Who on the Chicago Bulls could have made that dunk JJ made running the floor? Only Rose. The Bulls could have used JJ 's 9 pts, 5rbs, 3 blks and he went right at the bulls weak link luol Deng."
comment from randomscreenname on 8:20 AM on Thursday, February 24, 2011: "What a disgusting loss. Beat the best team in the NBA (record wise) before the break and come back and lose to one of the worst? Come on, Bulls. Losses happen, we know, but to the Raptors? THE RAPTORS? Inexcusable. I hope chairs were being thrown-- mainly at Boozer and his non-existent defense (Not even going to get into that)."
comment from lev237 on 8:48 AM on Thursday, February 24, 2011: "James Jonson was really good. His energy level was very high, and he showed everyone his athleticism and toughness. Why, WHY Thibs didn't play him? It's just ridiculous.
Now we have a draft pick near the bottom of first round instead.
If we will not get Mayo or Lee with this pick, we may consider this trade as a huge fail."
comment from katmandu on 8:55 AM on Thursday, February 24, 2011: "Everone at least on this blog knew James Johnson could provide some athleticism at small forward. You can't just score on set plays. You need to score on fast break dunks, steals, tip-ins, what Johnson did this game and Deng can't do. Those points sometimes are the difference in close games. It wouldn't hurt also for Rose to have someone to run with.
Except the person that mattered, Thibodeau, didn't see it that way. Johnson could not get off the bench in Chicago then goes starting for another NBA team. What does that tell you about evaluation? ... Jay Tiriano is one of the worst coaches in the NBA. But this game he just attacked the Bulls weaknesses."
comment from mad skills on 9:21 AM on Thursday, February 24, 2011: "Speed kills, and we have now lost to three teams who use speed and athleticism to make up for other short comings. We just traded away our most athletic player to the Raptors and he showed us what he should have been doing all along. 9 points, 3 blocks, 5 rebounds and this without knowing the plays. Wakeup to a brave new world Bulls fans! ... I believe if we played the Raptors ten times we would lose 8. Wait to we play the 76ers, New York, Hawks and Miami in the playoffs."
Well, that's all. I think it's also interesting that the Bulls fans are suddenly praising James Johnson for his superb play in the game, considering that he didn't play much for Chicago and that the fans probably didn't care much for him before now. Gotta go!
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