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Rose leads Bulls over Raptors

Oct 13, 2010 - 3:51 AM CHICAGO (AP) -- Derrick Rose scored 23 points and the Chicago Bulls rode a dominating advantage on the boards to a 109-90 preseason victory over the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night.

The Bulls (2-2) hammered the Raptors off the glass on both ends of the court. Chicago outrebounded Toronto 13-3 in the first quarter, 10-4 in the second and 15-8 in the third. Overall, the Bulls finished with a 44-22 rebound advantage and outscored Toronto 19-14 on second-chance points.

"They were just much more aggressive than we were," Raptors coach Jay Triano said. "They worked harder than us and that was evident."

Joakim Noah had 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Bulls, while Luol Deng scored 13 points and Omer Asik added nine points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots.

"(Asik) does a lot of things that can help us win," Noah said. "You can't teach that size that he has. That's a big body and he can really move for a guy of his size."

Leandro Barbosa led the Raptors (1-2) with 20 points.

Guard Ronnie Brewer made his Chicago debut after missing the Bulls' first three preseason games with a right hamstring pull. Brewer, a four-year veteran who signed with the Bulls as a free agent over the summer, scored four points in 10 minutes and looked tentative at times during his first-half stint, but more confident during the second half.

"With Ronnie, we've got to be careful with the minutes," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. "I thought he did some things really well out there. Defensively, I like his length, I like the way he competes."

Brewer said after the game that he felt fine and suffered no setbacks with his injury.

Rose scored 14 points and the Bulls shot 56 percent from the field while building a nine-point lead in the first quarter. Noah had four of Chicago's nine assists in the first quarter and he finished with a team-high eight for the game.

"(Thibodeau) isn't talking to us about moving the ball," Rose said. "It just comes from the offense. The offense is made so that if you don't have a shot, you pass it."

The Bulls were credited with an assist on 26 of their 40 field goals. Rose had seven assists.

"I thought we played very unselfishly," Thibodeau said.

Thibodeau's offensive system seems to be ideally suited for Noah, who is one of the better-passing big men in the NBA.

"(Thibodeau's) offense puts us in a position where we can succeed," Noah said.

The Bulls stretched the lead to as many as 21 points in the second quarter as Chicago took advantage of Toronto's leaky defense and poor effort off the boards. The Raptors closed the advantage with a strong 14-7 finish to the opening half behind seven points from center David Andersen, who scored nine points in 20 minutes in the game.

Toronto closed within 12 again late in the third quarter after Barbosa hit a 3-pointer from the corner. On the Bulls' ensuing possession, Taj Gibson missed a foul-line jumper, but Noah tipped the ball twice then dived out of bounds to tip it a third time, slapping the ball to Deng on the wing. Fittingly, Noah got the ball back under the basket and his dunk put Chicago back up by 14.

Chicago's 14-3 run to finish the third quarter featured six second-chance points. The Bulls led 81-58 entering the fourth quarter.

"We practiced harder than we played today," Triano said. "We just have to work harder and play with the intensity that's needed to win."

Toronto's Andrea Bargnani, the top pick in the 2006 draft, scored 11 points. He was 2 for 17 from the field in the first two preseason games, and was just 3 of 9 on Tuesday.

"Maybe (Bargnani) is getting his legs under him a little bit," Triano said. "Like I said before, it's not just Andrea. Everybody has got to pick up their level of intensity."

Thibodeau played his key starters heavy minutes with Noah playing 40 minutes, Rose 36 and Deng 31.

"With Joakim, he's going to get his minutes at (center)," Thibodeau said. "I had anticipated that Bargnani would start. I wanted to get a look at him guarding a range-shooting (big man). He probably played a few more minutes than I would have liked."

Raptors forward Linas Kleiza sat out because of sore right Achilles' tendon.