Playoff hopes are alive and well in Chicago.
The Bulls punched their ticket to a third consecutive play-in tournament on Tuesday with a 137-118 win over the Toronto Raptors, snapping a two-game losing streak to improve their home record to 15-23 at the United Center.
Scoring came easily against the Raptors defense. The Bulls tallied 102 points in the first three quarters. Four different Bulls players finished with 20 or more points as Coby White led scoring with 28 points and Nikola Vučević added 22 points.
The Raptors have not been actively seeking a spot in the Eastern Conference postseason, a trend they continued by resting RJ Barrett and Ochai Agbaji in Chicago. That lack of effort was reflected in their strategy Tuesday, which included playing Scottie Barnes for fewer than two minutes in the fourth quarter.
Here are three takeaways from the win:
1. Kevin Huerter stormed back into the starting rotation.
After missing Monday’s game with a thumb injury, Kevin Huerter returned to the starting lineup and reignited his scoring as a crucial addition to the team’s central trio of White, Josh Giddey and Vučević. Huerter rattled off 16 points in another night of solid scoring as the guard continues to improve within the pace of the Bulls offense.
Although the Bulls benefited from a prolific night of 3-point shooting, Huerter generated most of his offense from the floor. He threw down three dunks against Toronto, the most in any single game of his NBA career. His only misses of the night came from 3-point range, where he still shot 2-for-4.
2. Shooting fired up from deep.
The Bulls have been streaky from behind the 3-point arc since they traded away Zach LaVine at the deadline in February, removing their most consistent shooter from the roster. While the Bulls maintained their 3-point shooting volume, they dropped to 36.2% from behind the arc since LaVine’s last game with the team.
Tuesday’s win marked an important return to accuracy for the Bulls, who went 14-for-34 (41.2%) from behind the arc. The game opened with a flurry from long range as the Bulls went 7-for-10 from 3-point range in the opening quarter and 10-for-20 in the first half.
Coby White crept closer to breaking his record for the most 3-pointers in a single season (209) that he set last season, making three 3-pointers on Tuesday to increase his season total to 204.
3. The roster was limited due to injuries.
The Bulls played with another limited roster on the second night of a home-and-away back-to-back after picking up a litany of injuries in Monday’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Jevon Carter incurred an injury to the AC joint in his right shoulder, Dalen Terry was kicked in the right calf and Julian Phillips was hit in the right quadricep, aggravating an older contusion. Coach Billy Donovan said he does not expect any of these three injuries to be long-term problems.
Lonzo Ball remained on the sidelines with a sprained right wrist, which has kept him out since the start of March. Ayo Dosunmu and Tre Jones are also out of the rotation for the Bulls due to extended injuries, severely limiting the backcourt on Tuesday.
The lack of depth gave extended playing time to Talen Horton-Tucker, who finished with 27 points on 8-for-16 shooting off the bench.
Playoff push
With Tuesday’s win, the Bulls made up ground on the Miami Heat to advance to the ninth seed in the Eastern Conference. They now trail the Heat by only half a game.
The Atlanta Hawks also lost on Tuesday, dropping behind the Orlando Magic to the eighth seed in the East. The Bulls are currently 2.5 games back from the Hawks and the Magic with six games remaining in the season — and a tiebreaker over Orlando and Miami.