Bulls beat Raptors in battle of playoff contenders

LOS ANGELES: Chicago's new look roster is blending together nicely as the Bulls had seven players in double figure scoring in beating the Toronto Raptors 122-113 in an Eastern Conference matchup on Thursday.

Orlando import Nikola Vucevic and Zach LaVine scored a team-high 22 points each for the Bulls, who are battling the Raptors for the 10th and final playoff spot in the East standings.

The Bulls improved to 22-28 while Toronto dropped to 20-32 on the season. With its second win over Toronto, the Bulls clinched the three-game season series and the teams meet again on May 13 in Chicago.

Lauri Markkanen, Coby White and Daniel Theis came off the bench to provide double-figure scoring for the Bulls, who have won two straight after a six-game skid.

Chris Boucher carried the offensive load with 38 points and 19 rebounds for the Raptors, who completed a four-game homestand. It was a career performance by Boucher.

"He had a night that's for sure," said Toronto coach Nick Nurse. "He was taking shots I don't think I have ever seen him take before. He had some really good moments on defence too. He is getting to start now and he is getting big minutes."

LaVine completed a double-double with a game-high 13 assists for the Bulls, who had opened their current road trip with a 113-97 win at Indiana.

Markkanen contributed 18 points, White had 15 and Theis 14 for the Bulls, who showed a lot more depth off the bench than the Raptors.

Also, Jimmy Butler scored 28 points to lead the host Miami Heat to a 110-104 win over the mistake-prone Los Angeles Lakers.

Miami also got 18 points from Victor Oladipo who left the game in the fourth quarter with an apparent knee injury.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored a team high 28 points for the Lakers who gave up eight more points than Miami on turnovers.