The Chicago Bulls put in a dominant performance on Friday night at the United Center, with a 108-92 win over Eastern Conference rivals the Toronto Raptors.
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Nikola Mirotic led the way with 29 points and 11 rebounds in another impressive performance off the Bulls bench, and the rookie is certainly looking confident on the floor as he gives the team a much needed boost in the lead-up to the playoffs.
Nevertheless, it was a shared effort from the hosts who improved to 42-28 to leapfrog the Raptors in the standings to move up to third in the East, while Toronto fall to 41-28.
Pau Gasol had 11 points, nine rebounds and six assists, Mike Dunleavy added 21 points and both Aaron Brooks and Tony Snell ended the game in double scoring figures.
However, the star of the night was center Joakim Noah who narrowly missed out on a triple double and ended the game with eight points, 10 rebounds and a sensational 14 assists as he took up ‘point center’ duty with the absence of the likes of Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler.
DeMar DeRozan led the scoring for the Raptors with 27 points as he stepped up in the absence of Kyle Lowry, but it was a tough match-up for them as Chicago scored 54 points in the paint and looked comfortable for the most part.
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