Bulls Waste Late Rally, Fall to Raptors 110-101 for Seventh Straight Loss

Brandon Ingram scored 31 points on 11-of-26 shooting and added eight rebounds and six assists as the Toronto Raptors returned from the All-Star break to defeat the Chicago Bulls 110-101 on Thursday night at the United Center. Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, and off-the-bench Ja'Kobe Walter each added 14 points for Toronto, which improved to 33-23 and won for the eighth time in its last 12 games. The Raptors led for 94% of the contest and built a lead as large as 14 points, controlling the game from the opening tip despite never being able to fully shake the Bulls.

Chicago fell to 24-32 with its seventh consecutive loss, opening a seven-game homestand on the wrong foot. Head coach Billy Donovan was absent Thursday after the passing of his father during the All-Star break, with assistant coach Wes Unseld Jr. directing the Bulls in his place. Anfernee Simons led Chicago with 20 points, and Isaac Okoro added 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting after returning from a knee injury. Despite the returns of multiple players from the injury list and a full week of All-Star break practice time, the same problems that have defined this losing streak — turnovers and free-throw disparity — proved decisive once again.

Turnovers and Free Throws Doom Bulls in an Otherwise Even Contest

On the surface, Thursday's box score looked remarkably even. Both teams shot 42% from the field and exactly 30% from three-point range. Both clubs finished with 46 rebounds. Chicago even held a slight edge in blocks (5-3) and three-point makes (12-7), firing 40 attempts from deep compared to Toronto's 23. But the two statistics that most often determine close games — free throws and turnovers — went badly against the Bulls, and that gap told the real story. Toronto attempted 10 more free throws than Chicago (31-21) and converted 27 of them at an 87% clip. The Raptors also forced 23 Chicago turnovers and turned them into 28 points, compared to just 19 points Chicago generated from Toronto's 14 giveaways. Combined, those two categories produced a swing of roughly 20 points in Toronto's favor — almost exactly the final margin.

The Bulls had a chance to pull off something dramatic in the final minutes. After trailing by as many as 14, Chicago used a 7-0 fourth-quarter run capped by an Anfernee Simons three-pointer to trim the deficit to 103-101 with 2:12 remaining and momentarily put the United Center on its feet. But the Raptors answered immediately. Collin Murray-Boyles converted a three-point play with 1:18 left to push the lead back to five, and Ingram buried a mid-range jumper with 36 seconds to go to make it 108-101, effectively ending any hope of a comeback. Murray-Boyles, who finished with 11 points on an efficient 4-of-5 from the field, was a reliable presence throughout the night for Toronto's second unit. Toronto's 14 steals to Chicago's six underscored just how active the Raptors were in the passing lanes, and how much those miscues cost the Bulls when it mattered most.

Returns Can't Mask Familiar Flaws for New-Look Roster

There were reasons for cautious optimism heading into Thursday's game. The All-Star break gave Billy Donovan's staff — or in this case, Unseld Jr.'s staff — a full week to run practices with the revamped roster, and guards Josh Giddey and Tre Jones both made their returns from hamstring injuries that had sidelined them since before the break. Jalen Smith also returned after missing time with a calf injury, contributing 9 points and a team-high 10 rebounds in 24 minutes. Jones, in particular, showed exactly why Chicago missed him, finishing with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting, six assists, zero turnovers, and a plus-8 rating in 22 minutes — the best plus-minus on the team. For one night at least, Jones was the most effective Bull on the floor and a reminder of the stability he provides. Giddey's return was bumpier: five points and five assists in 21 minutes alongside a minus-22, as the young Australian clearly continues to work back toward full game rhythm.

The bigger concern came from Matas Buzelis, who has been one of the few bright spots during this losing run. The rookie struggled badly on Thursday, managing just 4 points on 2-of-10 shooting with zero three-pointers made on seven attempts and four turnovers in 31 minutes. It was his worst performance of the post-deadline stretch and a reminder that he remains very much a work in progress. Simons carried the offensive load with his team-high 20 points but shot 7-of-18 from the field and finished at minus-21, often the target of Toronto's aggressive trapping defense. Okoro, returning from the knee injury that kept him out of the final game before the break, was a pleasant surprise with 16 points on efficient 6-of-12 shooting and three made threes. With Jaden Ivey out as a coach's decision, the rotation tightened, but the core issue — too many live-ball turnovers and too many foul-line trips given up to opponents — remained unchanged entering this homestand.

Looking Ahead

The Bulls remain home to face the Detroit Pistons on Friday night at the United Center at 7:00 p.m. CT. Detroit enters at 41-13 and leads the Central Division by 18 games over Chicago, making Saturday a tall order for a team still searching for its first win in nearly three weeks. The hope is that Donovan returns to the bench soon, and that continued integration of the healthy roster — particularly with both Giddey and Jones now available — begins to show some results over the coming week of home games. At 24-32 and firmly out of any meaningful postseason picture, the rest of this homestand is an opportunity to find out which pieces of this retooled roster can be trusted as the season winds down.

Toronto, meanwhile, heads to Milwaukee on Sunday to face the Bucks riding a strong stretch of play. The Raptors, sitting fifth in the Eastern Conference at 33-23, have now beaten the Bulls twice this season and continue to make a compelling case for themselves as a genuine playoff threat in the East. Ingram, who also had eight rebounds and six assists to go with his 31 points Thursday, is playing some of the best basketball of his career in his first full season in Toronto and looks like the cornerstone piece the franchise has been searching for. For the Bulls, Thursday's loss to the same team that beat them two weeks ago in Toronto offered little evidence that anything has materially changed — only that more time and more repetitions lie ahead before this group finds its footing.