Johnson has 24 points, nine boards to lift Raptors to 97-88 victory over Bulls

TORONTO – Amir Johnson had 24 points and nine rebounds, while Rudy Gay poured in 23 points to lift the short-handed Raptors 97-88 over Chicago on Friday, Toronto’s second win over the Bulls in four days.

DeMar DeRozan finished with 19 points, Kyle Lowry had 13 to along with 11 assists, and seldom-used rookie Quincy Acy finished with 10 points and nine boards for Toronto (31-48).

Carlos Boozer had 19 points and 12 rebounds to top the Bulls (43-36) before fouling out with 3:49 left to play. Nate Robinson had 17 points, while Nazr Mohammed grabbed 13 boards to go with 16 points for Chicago, which snapped New York’s 13-game winning streak with a 118-111 overtime victory at home on Thursday night.

The Raptors were missing Jonas Valanciunas, who hurt his neck in Toronto’s 101-98 win at Chicago on Tuesday, Terrence Ross (ankle) and Landry Fields (strep throat). Yet they managed to cobble together a 15-point lead in the third quarter against a Bulls team that’s battling for playoff position, and took a 73-65 lead into the fourth.

The Raptors kept their composure through the final quarter, and when Marco Belinelli drained a three-pointer to cut the lead to six points with just under three minutes to go, Toronto answered with a Johnson dunk followed up by a three by Gay and the home team was back up by 11.

The game got scrappy in the second half, and Richard Hamilton was ejected for a flagrant foul with 5:33 to go in the third quarter after he swung an arm at DeRozan that hit him in the side of the head.

DeRozan picked up a technical soon after for yapping with Robinson.

A sellout Air Canada Centre crowd of 19,800 turned out to watch a lottery-bound Raptors squad that has just three games left in yet another season of disappointment. Toronto will miss the post-season for the fifth consecutive year and sat one game behind Philadelphia before Friday, and seven games out of a playoff spot.

Raptors coach Dwane Casey said before the game a ninth-place finish would mean “nothing right now.”

“We went into the season, I remember saying we were going to knock on the door for the playoffs. I don’t think I ever said we’re going to make the playoffs. If you look at the predictions early in the season, we’re close to where everybody predicted,” Casey said.“I’m not happy, I’m not satisfied, I’m disappointed as anyone that we didn’t make the playoffs, but we’re taking steps.

“Nobody said it was going to be fast, but nobody is satisfied with where we are.”

Boozer scored 13 first-quarter points, including six consecutive baskets to give the Bulls an early 11-point lead. Toronto battled back to cut Chicago’s lead to 22-20 heading into the second.

Toronto shot 65 per cent in the second, and finished the quarter on a 12-3 run to take a 47-43 lead into the dressing room at halftime.

The Raptors stretched their advantage to a game-high 15 on a long jumper by Gay with 4:19 left in the third and held on to lead by eight with a quarter left.

Notes: Derrick Rose, Taj Gibson and Joakim Noah didn’t make the trip for Chicago. … The Raptors host the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday, are in Atlanta on Tuesday, then return home to host the Boston Celtics in their season finale on Wednesday. … Valanciunas was presented with the Eastern Conference rookie of the month award for March before the game. … Actors Shane West and Morris Chestnut were at the game.