Siakam, Trent Jr. help Raptors fend off Bulls

Pascal Siakam scored 20 and pulled down eight rebounds as the Toronto Raptors held off the Chicago Bulls 101-96 on Tuesday.

Point guard Fred VanVleet only had three points but nine assists and six rebounds in his return to the Raptors' (31-32) lineup after missing three games following the birth of his third child.

O.G. Anunoby added 17 points and seven rebounds for Toronto, while Gary Trent Jr. had 19 points and Jakob Poeltl scored 14.

Former Raptors star DeMar DeRozan had 13 points.

Toronto head coach Nick Nurse said that the Raptors were OK without VanVleet in two of the three games, but his absence was clearly felt in a 118-93 loss in Cleveland on Sunday.

"I thought we got the ball where it needed to go on offence and executed pretty well while missing a key offensive creator," said Nurse. "Probably could have used him at the defensive end against some really fast guards."

Trent drilled a 26-foot three-pointer with 43 seconds left in the first to give Toronto a 24-23 lead at the end of the quarter. The Raptors led by as much as seven points but an 11-2 Chicago run closed that gap.

OH MY.