The so-called “curse” that was the Raptors’ 11-game losing streak against the Bulls finally ended thanks to 42 points from DeMar DeRozan, but the weirdness seen when these two teams play definitely remains.
TORONTO – In theory, if you flip a coin a thousand times it could come up tails 10 or 20 times in a row. Heads would eventually have its day, of course, and if you keep flipping it long enough heads and tails will come out even. But there would be some streaks along the way and depending on how you look at them you could draw the wrong conclusion.
If you were really into heads and tails kept winning, for example, you could be convinced in a weak moment that heads was somehow cursed or tails had a special power.
But in sports sometimes it’s hard to see the forest for the trees, and in any case it doesn’t matter. Talk sample size all you want, but on any given night one team wins and the other loses.
Unless the Toronto Raptors are playing the Chicago Bulls – then everyone knows what happens. The Bulls always win and you might, if you were a Raptors fan, come to accept your team was cursed when playing Michael Jordan’s old team.
Coming into Tuesday night’s matchup at Air Canada Centre, the Bulls were gunning for their 12th straight regular-season win over Toronto. The last time Toronto beat Chicago in basketball was New Year’s Eve 2013.
The world was a simpler place then.
Since? Chaos.
The series between the Raptors and the Bulls is only more proof.
It’s not just that the Bulls came into Tuesday night’s game having lost to Chicago 11 straight times, it’s that each loss has been its own opera, featuring never-seen-before moments, like the Bulls’ Jimmy Butler going off for 40 points in the second half or dearly-departed Doug McDermott playing like Larry Bird against Toronto and like Doug McDermott against the rest of the NBA.
Weird things happen. Like Toronto finally winning. It actually happened – 122-120 in overtime on the strength of 42 points, seven rebounds and eight assists from DeMar DeRozan.
Fittingly, it was glorious and not just because it pushed the Raptors to 9-5 without the injured Kyle Lowry. It was the perfect end to the streak because it was so weird and crazy.
For example, midway through the third quarter, the Bulls’ Paul Zipser – I had to ‘Wiki’ him – drove baseline and dunked on Serge Ibaka, arguably the NBA’s best shot-blocker since he came in the league and undoubtedly the best the Raptors have put on the floor since they acquired him before the trade deadline.
To be honest, Zipser – he’s German and in his first NBA season – kind of squeezed it down. Even he was shocked. You could seem him kind of smiling to himself as if to say ‘Did that just happen?’
Anyway, Ibaka always plays a bit grumpy at the best of times and this wasn’t the best of times. The Raptors were trailing badly as the Bulls – who came into the game ranked 28th in the NBA in field-goal percentage and 29th in three-point field-goal percentage – were doing their Golden State Warriors thing, because of course.
The Bulls led 59-54 at the half while shooting 52.6 per cent from the floor. Rajon Rondo – on his way to a season-high 24 points – led all scorers with 19 while knocking down three triples, as Chicago shot 6-of-15 from deep. It was the kind of game that challenged one’s faith, if one had faith that there was no such things as curses.
But the weirdness was just beginning.
Perhaps upset that Zipser dunked on him, or maybe just because the Bulls’ voodoo is that powerful, Ibaka got drawn into a skirmish with Chicago’s Robin Lopez, the hairiest of the NBA’s Lopez twins. It escalated quickly with punches thrown with fairly evident malice. Ibaka may have avoided a manslaughter charge when his long right hand telescoped across the scrum and hit only Lopez hair, which would be hard to miss, in fairness.
Ibaka was robbed of a second chance when DeRozan grabbed him from behind and pulled the 6-foot-10, 260-pound Ibaka to the ground. Ibaka then got up and went for a second charge only to be met by P.J. Tucker, who played some of his most physical defence in pushing Ibaka to centre court.
Both combatants were ejected and will be facing fines of up to $50,000 and, more significantly, potential suspensions.
In the immediate term the Raptors were trailing by 16 with four minutes left in the third quarter. It was a good moment for the pro-curse crowd.
But there is nothing like a fracas to fuel a frenzy and between the sold-out crowd and a suddenly re-energized Raptors roster, the Bulls were ever-so-steadily put on the run.
It took a while but back-to-back triples by Tucker, the second after an Ibaka-like block at the rim by Patrick Patterson, and the Raptors were suddenly within six. Cory Joseph knocked in a pair of free throws, Fred VanVleet went on a solo fast break and Joseph muscled in for a lay-up to tie the game up with 1:50 to play, Toronto having held Chicago scoreless for over four minutes.
But remember the curse? The Bulls’ Butler did. The Chicago star broke the tie with a jumper and then picked off a telegraphed cross-court pass from the rookie VanVleet and scored the lay-up to put Chicago up four with 1:12 left.
DeRozan wasn’t having it. He got to the lane twice and scored, the second time getting fouled. But given the opponent it wasn’t a surprise when the 85 per cent free throw shooter missed a shot to put the Raptors up one.
One more stop – Tucker on Butler – and a miss at the buzzer by DeRozan and it was on to overtime.
Slowly, the Raptors took charge. DeRozan was playing like a man possessed – his at-the-rim block of the Bulls’ Joffrey Lauvergne dunk attempt in the fourth quarter forever evidence that he can play defence when in the mood. He finally got the Raptors over the hump with a floater midway through the five-minute overtime that tied the score after Chicago had jumped out to quick lead and then a turnaround jumper a minute later that put Toronto up 117-115.
Meanwhile, Toronto kept getting stops – Chicago scored just 11 points in the games’ final 11 minutes – and a Patterson put-back of a DeRozan miss with 44 seconds left gave Toronto just enough.
Was it a curse? Was it just a matter of continuing to flip that coin and eventually it will come up your way?
Who knows, but the streak is dead. The Bulls-Raptors weirdness, on the other hand, remains very much alive, however.
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