Derrick Rose remembered the celebration the last time the Bulls met Toronto. He wasn’t about to let the Raptors yuck it up this time.Rose had 36 points and 10 assists, and The Bulls took another step toward the top seed in the Eastern Conference with its 15th victory in 17 games, hanging on to beat the short-handed Raptors 113-106 on Saturday night.The Bulls lead Miami by three games and Boston by 3½. They also are within one of San Antonio for the NBA’s best record after squeezing by one of the league’s weakest teams.Rose scored at least 30 for the third time in five games and got a measure of revenge for a perceived slight in a loss at Toronto in late February.Jerryd Bayless, charged with the unenviable task of guarding Rose, had nothing but praise for him.Thanks in part to his star, Tom Thibodeau broke Phil Jackson’s club record for wins by a first-year coach as the Bulls improved to 56-20, but Rose was hardly alone.Carlos Boozer added 18 points and 10 rebounds despite early foul trouble, and Luol Deng scored 17 points, Taj Gibson had 15 points and nine rebounds. Kyle Korver came up big down the stretch to finish with 10 points, and Chicago won despite some shaky stretches on defense, with Toronto shooting only over 50 percent.It helped that the Bulls outrebounded the Raptors 43-33 even though Joakim Noah missed his third consecutive game because of a sprained right ankle. The Raptors were no picture of health either.With leading scorer Andrea Bargnani sidelined by a sore right ankle and guard Jose Calderon staying home because of a sore left hamstring, the Raptors dropped their sixth straight.Bayless, filling in for Calderon, and DeMar DeRozan each scored 26 points for Toronto. Leandro Barbosa added 18 points, and Ed Davis had 17 points and 11 rebounds in Bargnani’s place.The Bulls led by as much as 13 in the first half and were up 53-43 at the break, but the Raptors wiped that out in the third, tying it at 74 at one point before the Bulls regained the lead and got it back up to 11 in the fourth quarter, hanging on after seeing it shrink to four several times.It was 102-98 after DeRozan drove for a layup with 2:30 left, but Korver buried a 3 from the right corner with 1:40 remaining. Then, after Bayless banked in a runner, Korver nailed a jumper at the shot-clock buzzer to make it 107-100 with just over a minute left.The Raptors weren’t quite finished as Barbosa banked in a runner.Rose answered by nailing a floater with 26.3 seconds left to boost the lead back up to seven — 109-102 — and give the Bulls some breathing room, although he followed that with a poor defensive play. He flew out at Bayless and fouled him as he attempted a corner jumper with 20.3 seconds left. Bayless hit both free throws after the shot was downgraded from a 3, but Korver hit two from the line and the Bulls hung on.

NOTES—The Bulls hope to have Noah back Tuesday night against Phoenix. “He’s almost there,” Thibodeau said. “We’re going to wait one more day. He’s good straight ahead and not quite there laterally yet.” ….Rose said he was fine after hurting his left ankle in the second half Friday night at Detroit. “Right now, it’s good,” he said before the game….. Longtime assistant coach Tex Winter has reportedly been selected for induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Assistant coach is, without a doubt, one of the least glamorous and recognized positions in the NBA world. The best assistants toil for years — if not decades — for the chance to spread their wings and run their own ship.Not Tex Winter though. After coaching in college and briefly in the pros, Winter settled into the role that he’s best known for: Phil Jackson’s triangle offense guru. Winter served as Jackson’s assistant coach in Chicago for all six of Michael Jordan’s Bulls‘ titles and then went to Los Angeles to accumulate even more bling with the Lakers. Winter Coached the Northwestern Wilcats from 1973-74 through 1976-77 and before that he Coached at Marquette and Kansas State,later going on to Long Beach State. He was also the Head Coach of the Houston Rockets in 1971-72.