Butler breaks Jordan’s record as Bulls beat Raptors

Jimmy Butler dropped 40 points in the second half of the Bulls’ 115-113 comeback win over the Raptors, breaking a Michael Jordan record.

Jordan had 39 in the second half of a game against Milwaukee in 1989.

These two teams met just a week ago and it was the Bulls who won by 104-97 behind some balanced scoring which saw three players with 20 points or more, but I’m expecting the Raptors to bounce back at home and get one back against the Bulls in this one, especially if Rose doesn’t play.

Chicago has been solid this season under new head coach Fred Hoiberg, winning three straight games after a mini slump and sitting at 19-12 and in fourth place in the conference. “I don’t want to be compared to him because you’ve seen what he’s done for this game”, a smiling Butler said.

“I’ve learned that adversity makes us better”, Portis said in a postgame interview on December 14. “You don’t see individual efforts like this too often”, Scottie Pippen (Hamburg, Central Arkansas) said in a tweet.

Even with Butler’s extraordinary performance, Toronto could have buried the Bulls; the Raptors led by five with three minutes left and were up two with 50 seconds to go before some sloppy offensive execution stalled any dramatic comeback bid.

While Butler knows Carroll didn’t punch him on goal, the four-year veteran was a little mad that he ruined his swagger. I thought he was going to drive baseline but he ended up pulling.

Lowry made a twisting, turning jumper to put Toronto back in front, but Butler answered with a 3-pointer from the corner to give Chicago the lead for the first time since there was 9:13 remaining in the second quarter.

Portis had 16 points and 10 rebounds in his third consecutive game scoring in double figures, and the Bulls shut down the New York Knicks in the fourth quarter for a 108-81 victory Friday night.

Bulls: The Bulls are 17-3 when outrebounding their opponent…. Centre Jonas Valanciunas cut the lead to one with 4.6 seconds left. His defensive awareness held DeMar DeRozan to just two points in the fourth quarter and frustrated Kyle Lowry at times, as well.

Joakim Noah also did not play because of an injured left shoulder.

“It was an unbelievable performance by Jimmy”, Hoiberg said. My bet would be that he sits out at least one more game, especially since Chicago is riding some nice momentum here. The Raptors travel to Cleveland to play the Cavaliers on Monday, the first of five straight road games, including a trip to London to play the Orlando Magic on Jan 14.