Rose And Bulls Top Raptors
CHICAGO -- Derrick Rose scored 23 points and the Chicago Bulls rode a dominating advantage on the boards to a 109-90 preseason victory over the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night.
The Bulls (2-2) hammered the Raptors off the glass on both ends of the court. Chicago outrebounded Toronto 13-3 in the first quarter, 10-4 in the second and 15-8 in the third. Overall, the Bulls finished with a 44-22 rebound advantage and outscored Toronto 19-14 on second-chance points.
Joakim Noah had 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Bulls, while Luol Deng scored 13 points and Omer Asik added nine points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots.
Leandro Barbosa led the Raptors (1-2) with 20 points.
Guard Ronnie Brewer made his Chicago debut after missing the Bulls' first three preseason games with a right hamstring pull. Brewer, a four-year veteran who signed with the Bulls as a free agent over the summer, scored four points in 10 minutes and looked tentative at times during his first-half stint, but more confident during the second half.
Rose scored 14 points and the Bulls shot 56 percent from the field while building a nine-point lead in the first quarter. Noah had four of Chicago's nine assists in the first quarter and he finished with a team-high eight for the game.
The Bulls stretched the lead to as many as 21 points in the second quarter as Chicago took advantage of Toronto's leaky defense and poor effort off the boards. The Raptors closed the advantage with a strong 14-7 finish to the opening half behind seven points from center David Andersen, who scored nine points in 20 minutes in the game.
Toronto closed within 12 again late in the third quarter after Barbosa hit a 3-pointer from the corner. On the Bulls' ensuing possession, Taj Gibson missed a foul-line jumper, but Noah tipped the ball twice then dived out of bounds to tip it a third time, slapping the ball to Deng on the wing. Fittingly, Noah got the ball back under the basket and his dunk put Chicago back up by 14.
Chicago's 14-3 run to finish the third quarter featured six second-chance points. The Bulls led 81-58 entering the fourth quarter.
Toronto's Andrea Bargnani, the top pick in the 2006 draft, scored 11 points. He was 2 for 17 from the field in the first two preseason games, and was just 3 of 9 on Tuesday.
Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau played his key starters heavy minutes with Noah playing 40 minutes, Rose 36 and Deng 31.
Raptors forward Linas Kleiza sat out because of sore right Achilles' tendon.
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