Raptors 101 - Bulls 71
CHICAGO, Nov. 10 (AP) -- The Bulls' dismal start has T.J. Ford confused.
Carlos Delfino scored 16 points and Chris Bosh added 14 points and six rebounds to help the Toronto Raptors beat the listless Chicago Bulls 101-71 on Saturday night.
The Raptors made quick work out of the Bulls despite playing their fourth game in five nights.
"What's going on with this team?'' Ford said.
Ford had 14 assists and Andrea Bargnani scored 14 points for Toronto, which had its largest win against Chicago in franchise history.
Leading 41-30 at the half, the Raptors opened up the third quarter by outscoring the Bulls 14-1 for a 52-31 lead. Anthony Parker hit a 3 and Jamario Moon stole Luol Deng's bad pass and took it for a breakaway dunk to give the Raptors a 21-point lead that started the boos from the sellout crowd.
Toronto coach Sam Mitchell started Moon to match up against Deng. It was the first start in the league for the 27-year old rookie and he held Deng to 2-of-7 shooting.
"We thought we could use his defense against this team,'' Mitchell said. "I started him because I felt like taking a roll of the dice, I would take a chance tonight.''
Bulls coach Scott Skiles cleared his starters from the floor with 9:35 left in the third quarter, but it didn't help as Parker immediately hit another 3 against the Chicago reserves. Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas, Ben Wallace, Ben Gordon and Hinrich never returned to the game.
"I never want to do that. On a night when the boo-birds are out I don't want to embarrass the group like that,'' Skiles said. "I thought I would take a gamble right there to see if someone could come into the game and be a catalyst for us. I felt like in unison that group was not performing really well.''
Andres Nocioni led Chicago with 20 points.
The vibe hasn't been good in Chicago since the Bulls were involved in Kobe Bryant trade rumors less than two weeks ago. General manager John Paxson put to rest the Kobe Bryant trade rumors less than a week ago, but some fans continued to chant "Kobe! Kobe! Kobe!'' while the Bulls were down 30-plus points in the third quarter.
"Obviously the Kobe chants is something that never seems like it will never stop being talked about. We understand the crowd's frustration. We're very frustrated as well,'' Hinrich said.
Ford thought the chants have been wearing on the Bulls.
"I'm pretty sure for what it seemed it looked like it kind of affected the guys, but I'm not sure. I'm not in the locker room.''
Notes: Before Saturday's game, the Raptors dropped 15 of their last 17 games against Chicago. ... The restless Bulls fans started the wave in the fourth quarter.
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