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Article written before completion of Sunday’s game
In an Eastern Conference showdown, the Chicago Bulls will be hosting the Toronto Raptors on Monday at 8:45 p.m. EST at United Center. This will be the second game between the pair on back-to-back nights. The first game was played at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The Bulls have been playing consistent .500 basketball while the Raptors have won four of their past six games. Chicago is favored to win by four points while the total is set at 221 points.
The Bulls lost a closely contested matchup against the reigning Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics by a score of 123-119. DeMar DeRozan led the squad with 46 points while Nikola Vucevic added a double double. As a team they shot 51.8% from the field and almost 40% from three, but the defense was lacking. Despite the loss, head coach Billy Donovan had some kind words for the former Raptors player. “DeMar was just spectacular. He’s got a refuse-to-die attitude and keeps hanging in there and battling and fighting.”
Unsurprisingly, DeRozan leads the team in scoring on the year with 25.6 points per game while shooting almost 50% from the floor. Zach Lavine has the most three pointers made per game on average and is shooting at a 42.3% rate from beyond the arc. Unfortunately, Lavine is out for Sunday’s game against the Raptors and is questionable to play in Monday’s contest as well . The Bulls are ranked 9th in terms of pace of play, handling 101.3 possessions per game on average. They rank 4th quickest in the NBA per offensive possession, but rank 8th slowest in defensive possession length. Their assist to turnover ratio is 7th worst in the league with a 1.59 ratio, and their net rating is 10th in the NBA with a +2.0. Overall, the Bulls rank 19th in points per game with 112.2, 22nd in field goal percentage (45.6%), and 9th with a 37.9% percent success rate from beyond the arc. On defense, they average 110.2 points allowed per game, hold opponents to a 47.1% field goal percentage (20th in the league), and are 4th worst in defense from three (39.3%). Their defense needs to be better if they are to do better than a .500 record for the remainder of the year.
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