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

The playoff-bound Chicago Bulls traveled north of the border to take on the lowly Toronto Raptors Friday night, and they have nothing but a loss to show for their efforts. 

In the 97-88 defeat, the Bulls weren't able to cash in on their momentum from Thursday night's victory over the New York Knicks—ending their 13-game winning streak. 

Raps Amir Johnson and Rudy Gay led the team in scoring with 24 and 23, respectively. Kyle Lowry fell one rebound shy of a triple-double in the affair, which would've been his second on the year. 

Carlos Boozer got off to a scorching start in the first period—he shot 6-of-10 early. But foul trouble resulted in an early exit for the Bulls best big man Friday night (Joakim Noah sat out with a foot issue), and the Bulls' comeback effort fell short.

Chicago drops to 43-36, and 20-19 on the road. Their .544 winning percentage equals that of the Atlanta Hawks for the sixth-best record in the East.

Toronto's win is its second in a row, as it attempts to finish its 2012-13 campaign strong and reach 33 wins for the first time since 2009-10. 

Point Guard

Kirk Hinrich

Player Grade: D+

Kirk Hinrich was almost invisible through the first half, and his night only got worse from there. He finished with three points and one assist on 1-of-3 shooting.

Hinrich played mostly off the ball, as Luol Deng initiated the first-team's offense most of the way. Nate Robinson, who logged 33 minutes, handled the point duties much more hands-on. 

He managed to get his hands in the passing lanes, coming away with two steals. Besides those takeaways, though, Hinrich was a liability on that end of the floor at times. Opposing point guard Kyle Lowry feasted off his slower counterpart, converting for 13 points, 11 dimes and nine boards.. 

There was a sequence late in the second where a poor Hinrich pass led to a Lowry layup in transition.

Hinrich's team-high four turnovers definitely didn't help his case for major minutes when/if Derrick Rose returns in the postseason.

Shooting Guard

Jimmy Butler

Player Grade: C+

Jimmy Butler was on the court for Tom Thibodeau for most of the game. As per usual, he provided the Bulls with defensive intensity along the perimeter, and eliminated DeMar DeRozan when the two were paired together. 

He finished with seven points on 2-of-6 shooting. He logged a steal but has seen better offensive days than this one. On that end, he primarily worked without the ball and never found his way to the rock. When he was eventually the ball-handler, the ball stuck as Butler tried to work for a shot.

He did, however, drill one of Chicago's nine three-pointers in the losing effort. He also converted a breakaway dunk early in the fourth to aid the Bulls' unsuccessful comeback attempt.

Butler's presence was felt on defense, without question, but this was one of the lesser effective nights in his sophomore season.

Small Forward

Luol Deng

Player Grade: A-

From the opening tip to the final buzzer, Luol Deng was the most reliable Bull on the floor for Thibodeau. 

It won't show in his shooting percentage—he shot just 3-of-9— but his savvy in the offensive system showed Friday night. Chicago ran its offense through Deng for a decent amount of sets and often penetrated with intentions to dish. He found teammates under the rim for easy buckets on countless occasions—Nazr Mohammed can vouch for this.

His impeccable awareness was on display Friday night in Toronto. He was the Bulls' assist leader with eight. 

On defense, he was often assigned the Raps' toughest cover in Rudy Gay, and Deng understandably didn't fair so well. Gay finished with 23 points, five more than his season average of 18.

Chicago's losing effort to a lesser opponent was obviously disappointing, but Deng's performance was a positive takeaway heading into the postseason.

Power Forward

Carlos Boozer

Player Grade: A-

Carlos Boozer's 57 percent shooting in the first half wasn't sustainable, but the Chicago starting power forward still managed to put up good numbers Friday. 

He shot 8-of-14 in the first half, including several sweet jumpers from outside the paint. He grabbed down 12 boards in the losing effort as well, and finished with 19 points. He shot 9-of-19 overall.

He got into some foul trouble late and fouled out with four minutes left in the fourth quarter. 

Early on, Boozer had difficulty getting out to cover Toronto 4 Amir Johnson along the perimeter. Johnson knocked down some jumpers early, but Boozer adjusted decently as the game went on. Johnson finished with 24 points, often in mismatches with smaller players thanks to switches. 

If Boozer was around in the closing minutes, the final score may have turned out to be different, but Boozer's early exit played a role in Chicago's failure Friday.

Center

Nazr Mohammed

Player Grade: C

The box score will say differently, but Mohammed didn't play a great basketball game Friday night. 

Thanks to Joakim Noah's absence, Mohammed logged an inflated 42 minutes. He managed to score 16 point and haul down 13 boards in the loss but was a burden on the offensive end for Chicago.

He shot 6-of-12 Friday night, but he missed a plethora of point-blank drop-ins off nice feeds from Deng and Hinrich. He was called for a three-seconds call in the first half and was out-rebounded by smaller players on a number of plays.

Thankfully, the Bulls won't have to rely on Mohammed, 35, for this many minutes the rest of the way—Noah should be back by playoff time. But the veteran definitely played a factor in the loss Friday night.

Bench

Bench Grade: B-

Robinson played well in this one, but not enough to shoot the Bulls to victory. His 17 points look minuscule compared to the 35 he dropped against the New York Knicks.

He shot 7-of-15 and made a few nice plays penetrating in the paint. In typical Nate fashion, however, his sloppy play also led to Raptors buckets in transition off turnovers. Nate led the team in giveaways with four.

Richard Hamilton was booted in the third quarter after being called for a flagrant-two foul on DeRozan. Rip plowed through the Raps guard, which led to an exchange later in the game where DeRozan was whistled for a tech. He finished with seven points in 15 minutes. 

Marco Belinelli played a forgettable game, shooting just 3-of-7 from the field including 2-of-5 from three. He missed a few open three-balls that could've brought the Bulls back into the game, but instead left them empty-handed Friday. Belinelli scored nine points in 26 minutes.