Chicago Bulls too strong for Raptors

Warriors defeat Kings to register their 29th NBA victory of season

Tony Snell scored 16 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter as the Chicago Bulls improved to 12-5 at home with a 104-97 win over the Toronto Raptors on Monday.

Pau Gasol, Derrick Rose and Snell combined for 64 points as five players reached double figures for the Bulls, who collected their second NBA victory in three games.

Forward Gasol scored 22 points and pulled down seven rebounds while Rose contributed 20 points and four assists for Chicago (17-12). Rose has now registered back-to-back 20 point games for the first time this season.

“It started with him,” said Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg. “You can tell he’s getting his legs where he wants them.

“Hopefully that’s the Derrick Rose we’ll see from here on out. We’re a pretty good team when we can attack with that type of pace.”

Raptors guard Kyle Lowry led all scorers with 28 points on nine-for-15 shooting. Guard DeMar DeRozan added 19 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for Toronto, who dropped to 19-13.

Toronto dropped its sixth consecutive contest against the Bulls. The Raptors have not beaten Chicago since

Golden State’s Stephen Curry overcame a slow start to score 23 points as part of his sixth career triple-double, leading the Warriors to a 122-103 victory over Sacramento on Monday and its 29th win in 30 games this NBA season.

San Antonio had six players score in double figures and overcame the ejection of coach Gregg Popovich to beat Minnesota 101-95.

San Antonio joined the 1978 Portland Trail Blazers and 1986 Houston Rockets as the only Western Conference teams to open a season 18-0 at home.

Kawhi Leonard had 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Boban Marjanovic filled in ably for the injured Tim Duncan and also scored 17.

Popovich was thrown out with 1.13 remaining in the first half on two successive technical fouls following a non-call on LaMarcus Aldridge.