The 11 game winning streak against Toronto is over, and boy was it an ugly finish. The Bulls held a 15 point lead in the 4th quarter but suffered an epic collapse after losing Robin Lopez to an ejection and Cristiano Felicio to injury. When all was said and done, the 122-120 loss put another big dent in Chicago’s playoff hopes.
Fred Hoiberg’s gang went through a stretch of 4:37 in the back end of the 4th quarter when they shot 0-8 and committed 3 turnovers.
Jimmy Butler tried to rescue his team, per usual. In fact, with the exception of 2 points from Rajon Rondo, Butler was the only Bulls player to score from the 6:39 mark of the 4th quarter through the completion of overtime. The All Star scored back to back buckets to stop the Raptors’ 11-0 run in the fourth. The second of those baskets came after a beautiful steal on the defensive end. But Jimmy’s final two shots of regulation were off, including an air ball on a three pointer.
By the time the teams got to overtime, Butler had no gas left. He finished with 37 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists. But the Raptors carried all the momentum into the extra stanza. DeMar DeRozan came up big in overtime. His turnaround jumper over Rajon Rondo with about 1:30 left in OT gave Toronto their first lead of the night. DeRozan finished with a whopping 42 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds.
The Bulls have blown a lot of leads and lost plenty of close games this year, but this one ranks fairly high up on the list of “worst losses of the season.” How do you blow a 15 point lead in the 4th quarter? Just ask The Mayor, because he and his boys found a way.
This loss is a killer for Chicago as they’re clinging to the outside of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference. They face the Detroit Pistons for the second night of a back to back tomorrow, and will likely be without Lopez (suspension) and Felicio (injury). The Pistons currently sit in 9th place and have a one game lead over the Bulls. Milwaukee sits in 8th, leading Detroit by one game and Chicago by two.
