With Zach LaVine sitting out, the Chicago Bulls lose their 2nd straight game 113-104 to the Toronto Raptors

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TORONTO — Fred VanVleet returned from an injury with season highs of 30 points and 11 assists, Scottie Barnes had 19 points and 10 rebounds and the Toronto Raptors overcame the absence of leading scorer Pascal Siakam to beat the Chicago Bulls 113-104 on Sunday.

O.G. Anunoby scored 22 points, Gary Trent Jr. had 12 and Christian Koloko added career highs of 11 points and six blocked shots.

VanVleet returned after missing three games because of a sore lower back. He made five of Toronto’s 10 3-pointers.

“You always want your point guard in the lineup,” Koloko said. “We need him. He’s one of our best shooters.”

Nikola Vučević had 18 points and 12 rebounds, Alex Caruso had 11 rebounds and 11 assists and DeMar DeRozan scored 20 points for the Bulls, who lost their second straight.

DeRozan shot 7-for-9, matching his season low for field-goal attempts.

“I don’t know what other choices you’ve got other than to go try to get it out of his hands a lot,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said of his defensive focus on DeRozan.

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Bulls guard Goran Dragić matched his season high with 16 points, Ayo Dosunmu scored 15 and Patrick Williams had 13.

Siakam is expected to miss at least two weeks because of a strained right adductor muscle. Siakam was injured when he slipped and fell in the third quarter of Friday’s loss at Dallas.

VanVleet said the Raptors have several players ready to step up while Siakam is out.

“If you’re on the end of the rotation, your eyes should be big and your mouth should be watering,” VanVleet said.

Zach LaVine sat out for the Bulls, who host the Raptors on Monday night at the United Center in the second game of this back-to-back.

LaVine, who had left knee surgery in the offseason, sat out the first two games of the season and missed the first game of a back-to-back in late October.

Referee Derek Richardson listens as Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan (11) tries to dispute a technical foul call during the second half Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022, in Toronto. (Frank Gunn/AP)

VanVleet scored 30 or more eight times last season. Toronto was 7-1 in those games.

“Hell of a player, one of the best point guards in this league,” DeRozan said of his former teammate. “I didn’t expect anything less from him. That’s who he is, aggressive, changes the dynamic of the game.”

The Bulls trailed 100-99 after a dunk by Williams with 4:23 to play, but VanVleet converted a three-point play and Anunoby scored on a driving dunk after stealing Caruso’s pass to give the Raptors a 105-99 edge with 3:47 to go.

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DeRozan’s three-point play with 2:01 to go made it 107-102, but dunks from Barnes and Anunoby, the second off a bad pass from DeRozan, extended Toronto’s lead to 111-102.

The Bulls had 17 turnovers, leading to 23 Raptors points. DeRozan led the Bulls with five turnovers.

“I thought some of them were very careless,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said of his team’s miscues.

The Bulls led 36-33 after a 3-pointer by Williams a minute into the second quarter, but VanVleet scored 11 points in the quarter to give the Raptors a 55-49 halftime lead.

DeRozan scored five points and Dragić hit consecutive 3-pointers as the Bulls closed the third quarter with an 11-2 spurt, cutting the gap to 83-82.

Bulls: C Andre Drummond (left shoulder) sat for the fifth straight game, while G Coby White (left quadriceps) missed his fourth straight. … Vučević had six assists. … LaVine did play on consecutive days last week and three times in four days, logging a season-high 37 minutes against the Brooklyn Nets in the first game of those three.

Raptors: C Khem Birch (right knee) was out for the second straight game. … Koloko had four blocks in the first quarter, one more than his previous career high. He finished with six. … VanVleet shot 7-for-7 at the free-throw line.

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