NBA Game Summary - Toronto at Chicago
02.17.2004
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Chicago, IL (Basketball News) - Jamal Crawford posted a double-double with 25 points and a career-high 11 rebounds in leading the Chicago Bulls to a 75-73 win over Toronto at the United Center.
Eddy Curry added 15 points and nine boards while Kirk Hinrich netted 12, as Chicago won its second straight game.
Vince Carter paced the Raptors with 21 points and Morris Peterson chipped in 19. Donyell Marshall scored 10 points and ripped down a career-high 24 rebounds for Toronto, which dropped its second straight after winning the previous two contests.
Toronto, which trailed by as many as 20 in the second half, found itself down 70-57 with 7:42 remaining. However, the Raptors were able to go on a 10-1 run, capped by a Peterson jumper from the left wing, to cut the deficit to 71-67 with 5:07 left in the fourth quarter.
Hinrich followed with back-to-back jumpers to push the Bulls lead out to eight with 2 1/2 minutes remaining.
The Raptors then scored the following six points to make it 75-73 with 30 seconds left. Crawford missed a jumper with six ticks left, but Antonio Davis grabbed the rebound and kicked it back out to Crawford, who was immediately fouled.
Crawford failed to make either free throw and Toronto came back down the court with an opportunity to tie or win, but Carter slipped and dribbled the ball off his foot with a second remaining while driving to the basket as the clock ran out.
The Bulls won the game despite only scoring nine points in the final 12 minutes.
Crawford scored four early points to stake the Bulls to a 6-1 lead 2 1/2 minutes into the contest, but Toronto responded by going on a 10-2 run, including a pair of three’s from Peterson, to take an 11-8 edge.
Chicago answered with a spurt of its own as it outscored the Raptors 16-6 in the final 4:42 of the quarter to take a 24-17 advantage after one. Curry, who had 13 points in the frame, scored nine of those during the run, including a three from 35-feet to beat the buzzer.
The Bulls led by as much as 13 at 34-21 early in the second quarter, but Toronto chipped away at the deficit by outscoring Chicago 10-4, aided by Chris Bosh’s 4-for-4 performance at the foul line, to make it 38-31 with 2:48 left until halftime.
However, Chicago had another answer for Toronto’s surge with an 8-2 run, as Crawford sparked it with a pair of free throws and capped it with a jumper, to close out the half with a 46-33 lead.
The Bulls went up 56-36 on a Hinrich three-pointer with 9:45 left in the third quarter, but Toronto outscored Chicago 20-10 the rest of the frame to only trail 66-56 after three.
