If the NBA season ended with the Eastern Conference standings the way they are today, basketball fans would narrowly miss out on a fascinating round-one matchup between the Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors. Without Derrick Rose, Pau Gasol or Mike Dunleavy, the Bulls beat the Raptors in Toronto Monday night.
The Bulls are barely hanging onto eighth place in the East, but they have now won all four of their games against the Raptors, a team chasing the conference's top seed. With the Bulls a game-and-a-half out of seventh place and the Raptors two-and-a-half games out of first, the two teams could realistically meet in the NBA Playoffs' first round.
The Bulls knew they would have to rely heavily on Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson against the Raptors, and the two each scored 13 points and combined for nine assists and 15 rebounds. E'Twuan Moore and Nikola Mirotic each added 17 points and nine rebounds to the 109-107 win.
But it was Doug McDermott coming off the bench that helped the Bulls survive a 60-point combined effort from the Raptors' dynamic guards Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. McDermott led the Bulls in points and minutes with 29 and 37, respectively. The sophomore forward went 9-11 from the field, including 4-5 from beyond the arc, and 7-8 from the free throw line.
"Something about it, the matchups maybe," he said. "I don't have anything against them, no grudges against them or anything. I just play well against them."
McDermott did not play in the Bulls' first game against the Raptors this season and he only played 11 minutes in the second meeting, but went 0-4 from the field. But his 29 points Monday night were one point short of his season high of 30, which he registered last month when the Bulls beat the Raptors, 116-106, in Chicago.
Canada's Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, visited the White House last week and traded barbs with President Barack Obama over the reigning NHL Champion Chicago Blackhawks, Obama's hometown team. If these two teams meet in the playoffs and the Bulls win another four games against the Raptors, Obama will undoubtedly turn the smack talk up to 11.
