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Mirotic, Noah lead Bulls past Raptors

Mar 21, 2015 - 4:46 AM Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Nikola Mirotic scored 29 points with 11 rebounds and Joakim Noah came up just shy of a triple double as the Chicago Bulls posted a 108-92 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.

Noah finished with 14 assists, 10 rebounds and eight points for Chicago, which has won two straight following a 1-5 stretch. Mike Dunleavy had 21 points and Pau Gasol and Aaron Brooks netted 11 apiece.

"We were hitting on all cylinders tonight on the offensive end," Dunleavy said. "Hopefully we can keep playing this way."

DeMar DeRozan had 27 points and seven rebounds for a Toronto team that has dropped six of nine. Patrick Patterson supplied 17 points and Greivis Vasquez scored 11.

Kyle Lowry didn't play for the Raptors because of a back contusion.

Despite Lowry's absence, Toronto built a 19-12 lead on DeRozan's 3-pointer with 4:51 left in the first quarter. Chicago recovered from its slow start and ended the frame on a 20-5 run for a 32-24 advantage.

Chicago remained in front throughout the second quarter and carried a 60-48 lead into the break

Dunleavy hit a 3-pointer prior to the halftime buzzer and knocked down another trey off a feed from Noah to lengthen the Bulls' lead to 77-56 with five minutes left in the third quarter.

Toronto trimmed its deficit to 88-77 with 10 minutes remaining, but couldn't get any closer.

"They just kicked our butt in every which way," Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said. "They punched us and we never recovered."

Game Notes

Chicago's Taj Gibson returned after missing 10 games with an ankle injury. He scored six points in 10-plus minutes of action ... The Raptors were outscored in the paint, 54-26 ... The Bulls shot 53.2 percent and owned a 47-36 rebounding advantage.