Brandon Ingram torches Bulls in easy Raptors win

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When a weak opponent is the opposition, good things tend to happen for the Toronto Raptors.

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That was the case again on Thursday night when the new-look Chicago Bulls gave the home side a mild scare before losing the rope and falling flat.

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Toronto’s 123-10-7 win improved them to 20-7 against teams below .500. It’s the record against good teams that needs to get a lot better (11-15). But that’s a matter that can wait until conference-leading Detroit arrives next Wednesday.

On this night Brandon Ingram was scorching hot, scoring 33 points, Sandro Mamukelashvili went off too, with 17, and two of their youngest teammates had strong games as well.

Rookie Collin Murray-Boyles was a force in the middle with 17 points, five rebounds and four assists (on 8-of-9 shooting) and sophomore shooting guard Ja’Kobe Walter took advantage of his 10th start in 43 appearances by showcasing his speed and athleticism. Walter scored 12 points.

Anfernee Simons led the Bulls with 22 points in his debut, Matas Buzelis added 18. Immanuel Quickley had 24 for the Raptors, who shot 56.3% from the field.

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The Raptors had lost 128-126 at home to Minnesota a night earlier, blowing an 18-point lead thanks to a dreadful fourth quarter but overpowered a weakened, somewhat shell-shocked opponent Thursday.

The Bulls hit a flurry of three-pointers in the third quarter to tie the game, which led to grumbling from the fans. But Ingram responded with one of his own and the Raptors then scored a layup to restore the lead to five and never looked back.

Some takeaways from the game and corresponding events:

RETURN OF THE JAK?

Stop if you’ve heard this before, but starting centre Jakob Poeltl continues to progress toward a return. The big man has not played since Dec. 21 due to a wonky back, but did some work at practice this week and continues to progress.

Head coach Darko Rajakovic said Poeltl reacted very well to the work. “We’re hoping for (a return soon). Obviously it’s day-to-day, but that’s the hope that we see him before the (all-star) break. Toronto has two more games before then, starting Sunday against Poeltl’s friend and former teammate Pascal Siakam and the Indiana Pacers.

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Thursday marked Poeltl’s 23rd straight missed game and he’s appeared once in the last 26 games.

The team also was without starting shooting guard RJ Barrett, who was rested to complete the back-to-back. Barrett only recently returned from a knee injury and still isn’t ready to play two straight games.

Rajakovic said the team was just being cautious with Barrett.

SAYING GOODBYE

The Raptors bade Ochai Agbaji farewell ahead of the NBA’s trade deadline. Agbaji was sent to Brooklyn.

“First of all, I would like to thank Ochai Agbaji,” Rajakovic said.

“He was part of our program for two years. I think he’s gonna remember those two years with us really well. He got engaged, he got married, and he got his baby girl here in Toronto. Amazing human being, amazing basketball player,” he said.

“It’s always sad when you lose players, and at the same time we got to understand it’s part of the business. We wish him all the best with his new team. I’m really excited about him and what’s next for him.”

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DA BULLS RESTOCK

Chicago only had eight available players thanks to a string of trades as the franchise appears to finally be rebuilding.

More will become available in the coming days, while Simons, Jaden Ivey and Guershon Yabusele made their debuts.

Chicago actually started four former top 10 picks (Ivey and Okoro even went fifth overall) and have four other former top 8 selections on the roster (Patrick Williams, Josh Giddey, Colin Sexton and Rob Dillingham). The franchise has refused to rebuild for years now, rarely finding sustained success in the post-Michael Jordan Era, but might finally be on the right track. Buzelis and Giddey are keepers, they can now lose to their heart’s content this season and ideally collect a top 5 pick in a loaded draft (Chicago entered Thursday 13th from the bottom of the standings, but should now pretty easily fall into the bottom 10 or even lower).

@WolstatSun

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