Chicago Bulls vs. Toronto Raptors: Postgame Grades and Analysis for Chicago

The Chicago Bulls needed overtime to get the job done, but Tom Thibodeau's club managed to knock off the Toronto Raptors 107-105 at the Air Canada Centre.

Two nights after setting a franchise record by allowing the Atlanta Hawks to score just 58 points on 29 percent shooting, the Bulls played a far more pedestrian brand of defense, allowing the Raptors to shoot a solid 45 percent from the floor.

Only a dominant performance by Carlos Boozer and a heroic game-winner from Luol Deng helped the Bulls sneak out of Canada with a win in this one.

Boozer registered a season-high 36 points and notched his ninth double-double in his last 10 games. His early work helped the Bulls build a hefty cushion at halftime, which they ended up needing when Toronto charged back down the stretch.

The Bulls are sure to have mixed feelings about their narrow victory, as they looked terrific on both ends in the early going, but clearly relaxed (or succumbed to fatigue, depending on your perspective) in the fourth quarter.

Chicago moved to 22-15 with the win, its ninth in 10 tries against the Raptors. Toronto fell to 14-25 with the loss.

A couple of terrific efforts from Deng and Boozer earned high marks, but there were also a few pretty ugly grades for some of the Bulls' secondary contributors. Let's check out the report cards for every Bulls player.

Point Guard

Kirk Hinrich: D+

Hinrich entered the game against Toronto on a pretty wicked shooting skid. Thanks to a 28 percent conversion rate over his last 10 contests, the Bulls' bespectacled point man's field-goal percentage is down to just 35 percent on the season.

After a 1-for-3 shooting night north of the border, his accuracy rate is headed even further south.

Everyone knows Hinrich is merely a placeholder in the starting lineup until a certain former MVP's knee will allow him to take over the reins, so it's somewhat unfair to be critical of him in his current role.

But we're here to be honest, not fair.

Hinrich's struggles as a shooter are a big problem for the Bulls, as he has been unable to help ease the burden on Chicago's inside players by knocking down a few shots from the perimeter. Even when Toronto went to a zone defense in the second half, Hinrich couldn't take advantage.

He's a good defender, generally plays mistake-free ball and works hard, but Hinrich's inability to score has to be a concern going forward.

In this one, he compiled twice as many fouls (six) as points (three). He added four boards, three assists and three steals, but his overall production left a lot to be desired.

Shooting Guard

Rip Hamilton: B+

Rip Hamilton might be forging a new identity as the Bulls' resident zone-buster.

The game was very much in hand when Hamilton knocked down a pair of third-quarter triples against an embarrassingly disjointed Toronto zone, but this one ended up going down to the wire. So Hamilton's cameo as a long-range shooter turned out to have a significant impact.

Going forward, Hamilton's ability to keep defenses from sagging into the paint could be a huge help to Chicago's bigs.

Everybody knows that Hamilton has earned a living in the mid-range area, but he's shooting nearly 38 percent from long range this year, which is well above his career average of just under 35 percent. If he can keep up his modest improvements from long distance, he'll be able to keep defenses honest.

Hamilton's pair of threes in the third might not seem like a big deal, but over the long haul, his shooting is critically important to the Bulls.

Rip finished with an efficient 15 points and five assists on 6-of-9 shooting. The only knock on him is that he played just 18 minutes. That's out of his control, and for the time he was on the floor, Hamilton compiled the Bulls' second-best plus-minus figure at plus-11.

Small Forward

Luol Deng: A

Usually, we'd be using this space to laud Luol Deng's criminally underrated defense by pointing out how he tirelessly worked for at least 40 minutes to shut down a superstar wing on the other team.

But the Toronto Raptors don't really have anyone like that. So I guess we'll discuss how Deng smartly allowed DeMar DeRozan to take a whole bunch of terrible shots. That's sort of like playing good D, right?

Deng didn't have to work especially hard to slow DeRozan down. Instead, he simply allowed him to toss up a bunch of long two-pointers off the dribble, happy to concede the exact types of shots that the Bulls hope opponents take.

DeRozan made a few in the early going, but ultimately scored 18 points on 13 shots while contributing absolutely nothing else to his team.

It might seem too subtle, or even a little boring, but Deng's defense on DeRozan was precisely what coach Tom Thibodeau wanted.

Oh, and after playing an absurd 48 minutes, Deng had enough energy to hit the game-winning shot with 3.3 seconds left.

In short, Deng gave the Bulls steady production on both ends and a phenomenal highlight. That's enough for a high grade around here.

Power Forward

Carlos Boozer: A

Carlos Boozer came into the Bulls' contest against Toronto as the Eastern Conference's leader in double-doubles. He extended his lead in that category by notching his 21st such effort against the Raptors.

The big man was totally dominant in the early going, as Ed Davis simply couldn't keep the Bulls' muscle-bound forward from establishing deep position. On a number of inside catches, the play was over before Boozer even shot.

He finished deftly with both hands, mixed up his finesse and power moves and generally got whatever he wanted in the paint.

For good measure, his high-arcing jumper was falling, too.

"

Carlos Boozer finishes the half with 25 points on 11/15 from the field. He also picked up 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Dominant.

"

"— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) January 17, 2013"

But Boozer didn't put the brakes on after a fantastic first half, even though the Raptors geared their entire defensive scheme after the break toward slowing him down. Zone defenses, quick double teams and a parade of defenders limited Boozer's touches, but he still tallied 11 points and six rebounds in the second half and overtime.

Overall, Boozer finished with a season-high 36 points along with 12 rebounds and three assists. He knocked down an ultra-efficient 16-of-24 shots from the floor.

Until Derrick Rose returns, Chicago's power forward will continue to be the team's No. 1 option on offense. He's certainly been playing like one lately.

Center

Joakim Noah: B+

Joakim Noah doesn't lead all centers with an average of 4.2 assists per game for nothing.

Noah's creative passing and manic energy on defense were big keys in the Bulls' win over the Raptors. But he needed to affect the game as a facilitator and rebounder to offset his rough shooting performance.

He made just 5-of-14 shots on the night.

Coming in, Noah had been shooting under 40 percent in his last 10 games. And with an overall field-goal accuracy rate of 46 percent, he doesn't quite fit the bill of a conventional offensive center. Fortunately for the Bulls, he does so many unconventional things well that he has continued to be a very effective overall player during his shooting slump.

Case in point: Noah ran a textbook fast break in the third quarter, finishing the runout with a pretty assist on a Kirk Hinrich layup.

The Bulls didn't have much success dumping the ball into Noah for post-up buckets, but just about everything else he did was excellent. And considering he logged 48 minutes (which is way too many for a center, by the way), Noah gets something of a pass on his shaky shooting night.

Chicago's man in the middle finished with 16 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block. That's a truly amazing line given that coach Tom Thibodeau left him out there when he was beyond exhausted.

Sixth Man

Marco Belinelli: C-

Marco Belinelli led all Chicago Bulls reserves with 35 minutes, which is why he earns the "sixth man" label here, but he didn't exactly provide the kind of efficiency you'd like to see out of a primary reserve.

He scored 10 points on 2-of-9 shooting, and a late free-throw miss in overtime allowed the Raptors to tie the game with less than 10 seconds remaining.

In other words, it wasn't a great night for Belinelli.

You get the feeling that the domino effect of Derrick Rose's return will quietly push Belinelli back into a more appropriate role. Instead of coming off the bench with the knowledge that he's going to get big minutes, coach Thibodeau can toss him out there for short stretches to see whether he's got his "A" game. If he doesn't, Thibs can pull him right back out.

Sleepy Rocky Balboa's a nice player, but he might be miscast as a No. 1 threat off the bench.

Bench

Bench Grade: D-

After the starters built a seven-point first quarter advantage, the bench gave it all right back in the second period. No Bulls reserve had a positive plus-minus at that point, and the story didn't change over the course of the game.

Taj Gibson played the most minutes outside of Marco Belinelli off the bench, and his eight points and four boards led all non-Italian Chicago reserves. But he shot just 3-for-9 and struggled from the foul line as well. He's an easy target because of the big contract he signed before the season, but there's no way around it: Gibson's got to give the Bulls more.

Other than that, Jimmy Butler and Nate Robinson both went scoreless in a combined 24 minutes.

Tom Thibodeau typically asks for big minutes from his starters, and this game showed why.