Raptors' season over after blowing 19-point lead in defeat to Bulls in play-in tournament
CBC
Inconsistency plagued the Toronto Raptors all season and it undid them again with their post-season hopes on the line.
Zach LaVine took over in the second half as the Chicago Bulls rallied past Toronto 109-105 on Wednesday to win their single elimination play-in game. LaVine scored 30 of his 39 points after intermission as Chicago stormed back from an 19-point deficit.
The Raptors only made 50 per cent of their 36 free-throw attempts, including two critical misses by Pascal Siakam that could have tied the game with 12 seconds left on the clock.
"We didn't have our best fourth quarter in terms of playing the way that we should play and we couldn't get stops, they kept scoring," said Siakam, who finished with 32 points and nine rebounds.
Fred VanVleet had a double-double with 26 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists for Toronto, including seven three-pointers. He said it would take at least two weeks for him to process the loss.
"Any way you slice it, a loss in the play-in is going to be frustrating," he said. "Whether you win or you lose, especially if you lose, you find whatever reason it was that you lost and try to make sense of it."
WATCH l Bulls come from behind to end Raptors' season in play-in game:
The Raptors hosted the game after finishing the regular season with a 41-41 record, good for ninth in the east. That put them just ahead of the 40-42 Bulls in the standings.
"We've definitely shown some good stretches but also some stretches where we weren't good at all," said Siakam. "I think that we're going to have to be better, when you look at the season, a lot of ups and downs."
Former Toronto guard DeMar DeRozan scored 23 and had seven rebounds for the Bulls. Centre Nikola Vucevic had a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
DeRozan visited the Raptors locker-room after the game and had a lengthy conversation with VanVleet.
"That's just my brother, man," said VanVleet, adding that he and DeRozan had not spoken in weeks, anticipating that they would face each other in the play-in.
"It's good to see him, but I'm not very happy with him right now."
Chicago will face the Heat in Miami on Friday in the second round of the play-in tournament. The winner of that game will be the eighth seed in the NBA Eastern Conference playoffs, playing the No. 1 Milwaukee Bucks in the first round.
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