The Chicago Bulls (30-17) defeated the Toronto Raptors (23-23) 111-105 at the United Center on Jan. 26 to pull into second place in the Eastern Conference.
Nikola Vucevic hit a three-pointer from the left wing with 14.5 seconds left to save the Bulls from a huge collapse. After giving up a 28-point lead on Jan. 24 in Oklahoma City17 midway through the fourth quarterand then seeing their 19-point third-quarter lead become a one-point Toronto lead with 3:1l left, the Bulls survived with a Zach LaVine driving three-point play, a couple of DeMar DeRozan free throws and Vucevic's three after Toronto (without its two best scorers) pulled within 108-105 with two minutes left in the game, according to a press release.
DeRozan led the Bulls with 29 points, while LaVine had 23 and Vucevic had 17 (along with 15 rebounds).
The Bulls next play the San Antonio Spurs in Texas on Friday, Jan. 28.
The Chicago Blackhawks (16-20-7) had an offensive explosion against the Detroit Red Wings (18-19-6) on Jan. 26, winning 8-5 in Michigan.
Dylan Strome scored his first career hat trick (three goals in one game) in the victory; Dominik Kubalik, Sam Lafferty, Alex DeBrincat and Brandon Hagel. Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves in his 14th win of the year.
Chicago returns home to face the Colorado Avalanche for the second time in five days on Friday, Jan. 28, at the United Center.