Raptors Chew Up Bulls

The Toronto Raptors left no doubt this would be the day they finally won at Chicago.

Dee Brown hit seven 3-pointers and scored a season-high 25 points as the Raptors earned their first-ever win at Chicago, 113-90 Tuesday night.

The Raptors, who had lost their previous six games on the road to the Bulls, led 31-9 after the first quarter. Toronto went on to win for the sixth time in seven games overall.

The Bulls made just 2 of 20 shots in the first quarter. Toronto reeled off a 23-3 run in the final 6:04 of the period.

"It was one of those nights where it seemed that everything they threw up went in, and we couldn't buy a basket," Bulls coach Tim Floyd said.

"We weren't getting back defensively. We gave up far too many looks. We didn't locate 3-point shooters. We gave up transition baskets, follow-up baskets," he said.

Vince Carter scored 14 points in the first quarter and Brown had 14 in the second, giving the Raptors a 66-39 lead at halftime.

"We were mentally prepared. Vince shot well and then Dee came in and gave us a big lift," said Toronto coach Butch Carter. "Effort-wise we have played better games, but never have we shot better."

Carter finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds. John Wallace added 15 points.

"We got put running and had a lot of baskets in transition," said Brown. "That's the first time we have done that in a long time. We took a lot of wind out of them because we hit our shots an kept the pressure on them. We got out running and were scattering them defensively. I just spotted up and hit the shots tonight."

Bulls star Toni Kukoc left the game midway through the second quarter because of a lumbar strain and will be out two to five days.

Rusty LaRue scored 15 points for Chicago and Kornel David had 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Trying to put the loss in perspective, Chicago's Dickey Simpkins said: "Every team in the league has a night like this. We had it tonight."

Notes

• Carter, coming off NBA Player of the Week honors, has averaged 21 points in his last six games.
• Chicago was without starting guard Ron Harper, out for 10-14 days after injuring his finger and knee on Sunday at Boston.
• The Raptors are 7-0 when they score at least 100 points.

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