Zach LaVine and Chicago Bulls complete an unbelievable comeback against the Toronto Raptors
Playing at home with the enthusiastic cheers of the Canadian audience, the Toronto Raptors seemed to have an easy victory when holding an advantage of nearly 20 points.
But this is just the story of the first half of the play-in between the Raptors and the Chicago Bulls. In the 3rd and 4th half, the away team with the brilliance of the duo DeMar DeRozan and especially Zach LaVine completed an unbelievable comeback.
Right on the field of the Raptors, the Chicago Bulls won with a score of 109-105 to continue to raise hopes for the Playoffs, putting an end to the opponent himself in the 2022-23 season.
Ranked 9th in the Eastern standings, the Toronto Raptors have the home field advantage and play extremely sublime. Fred VanVleet's midfield buzzer-beater put the Canadians ahead 58-47 at the end of the second half.
The gap was widened to the furthest point of 9 points at the beginning of the third half (score 66-47), creating an advantage and a comfortable space for the home team. But then that was still not enough for the Raptors to keep the game.
The Chicago Bulls suddenly rose, opening a series of 9-0 points at the beginning of the 4th half, equalizing the score and then rising not long after thanks to Patrick Beverley's 3-pointer.
When the half was only 1 minute, Toronto narrowed the gap between the two teams to 1 point. Zach LaVine responded in the next attack to re-establish the 3 point gap (107-104, remaining time 17.2 seconds).
The Raptors still had a chance to send the game into extra time when Pascal Siakam had three penalties. Unfortunately, the All-Star striker only succeeded in the first FT, missed the next two free kicks and awarded the victory to the opponent.
Not only the bitter FTs at the end of this 4th half, but in the whole match, the Toronto Raptors team threw the free kick very badly. The whole team only has a 50% success rate, reaching 18-36 FT. In an important match like this, this is an unacceptable statistic.
“We lost ourselves. The team missed too many free kicks in the match. The team had a chance to win, had the lead and had the home advantage. Everything was wasted because we lost ourselves," Pascal Siakam admitted at the post-match press conference.
Zach LaVine leads the Chicago Bulls with 39 points (12-22 FG, 13-15 FT) with six rebounds and three assists. DeMar DeRozan contributed 23 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks.
On the Raptors side, Pascal Siakam scored the most points with 32 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists. Fred VanVleet nearly hit a triple-double with 26 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists.
This match put an end to the Toronto Raptors' 2022-23 season. This is the second time in 3 years that the "dinosaurs" can't make it to the Playoffs.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Bulls still have 1 match to decide on a ticket to play at the postseason. Their opponent in the next play-in is 7th place Miami Heat.
