Wright, DeRozan lead Raptors to victory in Chicago

Rudi Schuller

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Wright, DeRozan lead Raptors to victory in Chicago image

The Toronto Raptors claimed their first victory in Chicago in over four years with a 124-115 win on Wednesday night.

Once again, DeMar DeRozan led all scorers with 35 points. DeRozan, who scored a career and franchise-high 52 points in a win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday, overcame a sluggish start to continue his torrid run of games over the past month.

While DeRozan's offensive prowess for the Raptors has been well established, it was a backup guard who shone alongside the Compton, Calif., native on Wednesday. Delon Wright shouldered much of the team's offensive load in the first half en route to a career high of his own, with the 25-year-old racking up 25 points, 13 rebounds and five assists off the bench.

The Raptors (25-10) remain in second place in the Eastern Conference after defeating Chicago. The Bulls (13-24) currently occupy 13th spot in the East.

Here are three takeaways from Toronto's win over the Bulls on Wednesday night:

The Wright Stuff

The Raptors have shown a lot of faith in Wright's potential, with the point guard yo-yoing between the NBA club and its G-League affiliate, Raptors 905, for much of his first two seasons as a pro.

So far this year, Wright has remained with the Raptors and put up solid numbers as a backup, averaging eight points per game heading into Wednesday's contest. Against the Bulls, Wright displayed the energy and athletic ability that has made him an important piece of Toronto's guard corps this season.

Wright scored 15 points and gathered five rebounds in the first half to help keep his team within three points of a determined Bulls squad at the break.

Bench steps up

Toronto's starters had a slow start to the game, with Serge Ibaka's 12-point first-half the only positive from the opening 24 minutes.

Despite the lacklustre play from the Raptors' starting five, the second unit kept the team in the game. Along with Wright's obvious contributions, Fred VanVleet also hit double digits with 13 points in 17:18 on the floor.

Maybe even more impressive than the scoring was the defensive work of the bench players, with five of the non-starting players ending the night with a double-digit point-differential. Wright led the way with a +28 for the game, with Jakob Poeltl close behind at +26.

Dangerous DeMar

Like his follow starters, DeRozan took a while to get going in Chicago.

Coming off his franchise record-setting game, the 28-year-old looked pedestrian by comparison in the opening half. DeRozan only managed nine points in the first 24 minutes against the Bulls, which equalled his point tally from the first couple of minutes during Monday's landmark game.

The three-time NBA All-Star came out of the halftime break a changed man, however, dropping 18 points in the third quarter to lead his team to a 90-90 deadlock heading into the final quarter.

DeRozan's newfound three-point range helped kickstart a Raptors' third-quarter run that continued into the fourth, as Toronto's top scorer went 5-for-8 from beyond the arc.

Rudi Schuller