Rookie Derrick Rose had 17 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter last night to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 102-98 win over the reeling Toronto Raptors .
Rose added 10 assists in one of the freshman's best performances of the season, helping the Bulls (17-22) end a two-game losing streak. Luol Deng added 16 points and 16 rebounds and Andres Nocioni chipped in with 16 points off the bench for Chicago. The loss spoiled a fantastic night for Raptors centre Andrea Bargnani, who erupted for a career-high 31 points in defeat. Bargnani dazzled the Air Canada Centre crowd of 18,494 with an array of layups, jumpers and three-pointers -- and even added 10 rebounds for good measure in his first showdown with fellow No. 1 pick Rose.
Chris Bosh had 25 points while Anthony Parker added 15 and Jamario Moon 11 for Toronto (16-24), which has lost three in a row.
Trailing 71-68 entering the fourth, the Bulls went on a 9-0 run to open the quarter -- capped by a Rose layup -- to go out in front by six. The Raptors quickly answered with threes from Parker and Will Solomon to trim the deficit to one.
The teams traded the lead for the next four minutes before Ben Gordon's three-pointer moved Chicago ahead 92-90. Solomon followed with a missed layup and Rose blazed downcourt for another layup.
After Toronto pulled to within two, Rose hit a floater off the backboard and answered a Bosh dunk with a driving layup for his 16th and 17th points of the quarter.
Parker's layup with 29.6 seconds left cut the lead to two, and Bosh intercepted an inbounds pass with 12.7 seconds left. But Bosh had his potential game-tying jumper blocked by Joakim Noah, and Deng hit two free throws to ice it.
The Raptors were once again without starting centre Jermaine O'Neal (knee) and point guard Jose Calderon (hamstring). O'Neal missed his ninth straight game, though he could be back in the lineup by the end of the week. Calderon sat out for the sixth time in the past seven games, but may also be close to returning.
