Toronto Raptors vs. Chicago Bulls Matchup: Big game in the chase pack

Sunday brought a tough loss to Cleveland, but if you’re a Toronto Raptors fan in the postseason or bust camp — things are still trending up.

The Raptors are 7-3 in their last ten games, best of the bunch when it comes to teams below the fifth seed in the East. The public implosion of the Brooklyn Nets also means that a top six seed is very much up for grabs. The Raptors may only have to hurdle the Heat (3 games back) and Hawks (1.5 games back) to get to that spot and avoid the play-in tournament. Hope still runs aplenty.

A new player has joined the foray too! The Raptors continued to buy after the Jakob Poeltl trade, getting busy on the aptly named buyout market by signing 32-year-old Will Barton for the rest of the season. Barton’s best days may be behind him, but he still strokes the three at a 38% clip and can provide meaningful scoring punch off the bench — something that’s been most obviously lacking all season.

The Bulls, meanwhile, will be frothing at the mouth over this matchup. They’re looking up at the Raptors in the standings but are still quality players in the Eastern Conference chase pack. You know any return to Toronto for DeMar DeRozan will be bulletin board material too.

The stakes are high and we should be in for a good one tonight. Here are the rest of the details.

Where to Watch:

TSN, 7:30 PM ET

Lineups:

Toronto Raptors – Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, Scottie Barnes, Pascal Siakam, Jakob Poeltl

Chicago Bulls – Ayo Dosunmu, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Patrick Williams, Nikola Vucevic

Injuries:

Toronto Raptors – Dalano Banton (out – thumb), Otto Porter Jr. (out – foot)

Chicago Bulls – Javonte Green (out – knee), Lonzo Ball (out – knee)