Bulls make it interesting, but fall in OT to Raptors
TORONTO - Chris Bosh didn't panic after watching the Bulls erase Toronto's 17-point lead and send the game to overtime. He just helped the Raptors win in the extra period.
Bosh had 31 points and 15 rebounds, Andrea Bargnani scored 28 points and the Raptors beat the Bulls 134-129 Sunday.
The Bulls' Ben Gordon had 37 points, including a buzzer-beating jumper over Bosh that sent it to overtime.
"Sometimes you can be like 'Oh my God, woe is me, it went in,' " Bosh said. "You can't panic. We're going to overtime whether we like it or not so we might as well regroup and get it right."
Bosh made sure Toronto got it right, putting the Raptors ahead for good by converting a 3-point play with 15 seconds left in overtime.
"They came back from an unlikely situation," Bosh said. "They had all the momentum in the world but we withstood it. I'm proud of our guys for showing composure."
Jose Calderon had 22 points and a career-high 19 assists, Shawn Marion scored 16 points and Pops Mensah-Bonsu added 13 as the Raptors set a franchise-high for points and extended their winning streak to a season-high four games. Toronto last won four straight between Dec. 9-14, 2007.
"I wish we'd been playing like this earlier (in the season) but you can't change the past," Bosh said. "All we can do is dictate what we do now. We've just got to keep it going."
Toronto is seven games out of the playoffs with nine left to play.
Rookie Derrick Rose had 23 but the Bulls failed to get their first five-game winning streak since Dec. 11-19, 2006.
"We had fought back so much that we were kind of just going on adrenaline," Gordon said. "In overtime we just weren't able to make the plays to win the game."
Joakim Noah scored 16, and Brad Miller had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulls, who came in just ahead of Detroit for seventh in the Eastern Conference.
The Bulls' 112-106 home victory over Indiana on Saturday was their seventh win in eight games, but they came out flat in this one - trailing by 18 in the first half before rallying in the final quarter.
The Raptors took a 13-point lead into the fourth and were up 103-86 with 8:05 to play before the Bulls began to rally, cutting it to 110-106 with 3:13 left after a 9-0 run.
Bosh converted 2 free throws with 2:33 to play, ending the Raptors' scoring drought of 2:54, but Kirk Hinrich answered with a 3-pointer to keep the Bulls close.
Toronto looked to have it won when the Bulls, trailing by 1, came up empty three times on one possession in the final 15 seconds. Gordon missed a jumper, Rose's layup rimmed out and Marion delivered a huge block on Tyrus Thomas to maintain Toronto's slender lead.
"I never, never missed a wide-open layup like that to win the game," a frustrated Rose said.
Calderon and Rose each made a pair of free throws but, on Toronto's next possession, Anthony Parker missed the first of two from the line, giving the Bulls another shot with six seconds remaining. Gordon took advantage, draining a jumper over Bosh as the buzzer sounded to send it to overtime tied at 119-119.
"I knew we had about five or six seconds so I just wanted to be aggressive," Gordon said. "My intention was to try and get over to the basket but Chris Bosh did a pretty good job of not letting me turn the corner. I just had to pull up and I was able to connect."