Bulls win in Toronto, Noah to have surgery

 

TORONTO—Carlos Boozer had a season-high 34 points and 12 rebounds, and the Bulls won their seventh straight game by beating the Toronto Raptors 110-93 on Wednesday night.Luol Deng added 19 points, Joakim Noah had 11 points and 11 rebounds and Derrick Rose dished out 11 assists for the Bulls, who never trailed and led by as many as 29.Noah will have surgery to repair a torn ulna collateral ligament in his right thumb. The surgery will be performed tomorrow morning by Dr. Mark Cohen and Dr. John Fernandez of Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush University Medical Center.Noah was first injured in the Nov. 27 game at Sacramento, and he has played the last two weeks with ongoing discomfort and slight functional impairment. Additionally, Noah has had significant sprains of his right index and middle fingers, which will not require surgery.Kyle Korver scored 13 points and Ronnie Brewer had 10 as the Bulls matched their longest winning streak since a seven-game run from Nov. 25 to Dec. 8, 2006. Leandro Barbosa scored 21 points for Toronto, which lost for the sixth time in seven games. Jerryd Bayless had 20 and DeMar DeRozan and Joey Dorsey each scored 12.Making his first career start in place of Andrea Bargnani, who missed his first game of the season with a sore left knee, Ed Davis had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Raptors.Trailing 91-64 to begin the fourth, Toronto closed the gap with a 12-2 run, cutting it to 93-76 on a layup by Barbosa with 7:21 remaining.Taj Gibson ended the spurt with a dunk and the Raptors were unable to get any closer, allowing the Bullsto close out a comfortable win.Rose started for the Bulls despite a sprained right wrist and bruised right elbow, sustained when he fell hard in the fourth quarter of Monday’s victory over Indiana. Noah also started despite lingering pain in his sprained right thumb.Up 23-18 after one quarter, the Bulls got 12 points from Boozer and 10 from Korver in the second, building a 63-44 lead at halftime.Boozer scored 14 points in the third as the Bulls took a 91-64 lead into the final quarter.The Bulls outrebounded Toronto 47-37.

NOTES—Jose Calderon (left foot) missed his fourth straight game for Toronto while Peja Stojakovic (left knee) sat out for the 10th game in a row. … Boozer’s previous best this season was 29 points, set Dec. 6 against Oklahoma City. … DeRozan is the only Toronto player to start all 26 games this season.