While the win over Dallas on Friday was more about pride than changing anything in the standings for the Bulls, with the Raptors losing to the Celtics the play-in game was set.
DeMar DeRozan is going home.
Thanks to Boston running the Raptors out of the gym on Friday night, the Bulls will officially head to Toronto on Wednesday, playing in the No. 10 at No. 9 play-in game in hopes of advancing and trying to fight for an Eastern Conference playoff spot.
“Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful,’’ DeRozan said of playing the win-or-go-home game in Toronto. “It would be very exciting … it would be real cool.’’
Now it’s the Bulls’ reality.
It’s a place DeRozan knows very well, spending the first nine seasons up north, after the Raptors made the former USC standout the No. 9 overall pick in the 2009 draft. When he was traded to San Antonio after the 2018 season, he admittedly was in tears, never wanting to leave the franchise.
Now, he’ll have a chance to exact some revenge. Not that it will be easy, especially with how well the Raptors played the Bulls in two games up in Toronto earlier this season. The Bulls did beat Toronto in Chicago back in November, losing the season series 2-1.
The common theme in all three of those games? When the Bulls kept the athletic Raptors frontline off the glass they were in good shape.
