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TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO - Wisely, the Raptors downplayed the importance of an early-season litmus test ahead of Thursday's nationally televised contest with the new and improved Chicago Bulls.

"I would say yes," admitted Dwane Casey, asked if the Bulls would be their best opponent so far, following morning shoot-around. "I would say they are."

"Just because Derrick Rose is an all-star, Pau Gasol is an all-star, just the amount of talent they have accumulated. We've got to come out and play our game for 48 minutes. This game doesn't make or break your season, win or lose [but] we've got to come out and establish the way we are going to play."

They did for 24 minutes. Barely a second more.

"That's one game in the marathon," Casey continued to stress moments after the buzzer sounded on Toronto's 100-93 loss. "If we had won it, it wouldn't have made [our season]. We lost it and it doesn't break our season."

"So we learn from it [and] we move on. There's a lot to learn out of this game, the type of game that you have to play to play at that level."

In the end, it turned out to be more of a lesson than a test. To compete with the big boys, the elite teams in the NBA - to which Chicago is among - they can't live like this. You can't lose focus for even a few minutes, let alone an entire quarter.

Leading by seven at intermission, and with the US spotlight focused on them, the Raptors looked like a team out of Chicago's league in the third quarter.

Going into the game they had not scored fewer than 20 points in any single quarter this season. On Thursday, the Bulls bested them 35-14 in the third, effectively ending the game 12 minutes before it became official.

"We withstood their punches in the first half but in the third quarter they got us on our heels and we stayed on our heels," Casey said. "You know that's the kind of game you're going to have against them. It's a hard game to officiate and it's a hard game to play but you've got to make a muscle and fight through the physicality, the bumps, the grind. And we didn't meet that challenge in the third quarter. It's a four-quarter game and that third quarter did us in."

The Raptors' offence - crisp in the second frame when they shot 55 per cent - went dormant in the third. Chicago's trademark physicality forced Toronto out of its comfort zone. They shot just 29 per cent while the Bulls, led by the veteran savvy of Gasol, hit 12 of their 18 attempts from the field.

"I think we just didn't play our game from start to finish," said Kyle Lowry, who had 20 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, pacing Toronto in all three categories. "We played our game in spurts tonight."

Not surprisingly, Lowry put the team on his shoulders in the fourth, scoring eight points and cutting the deficit - once 18 - to five in the closing minutes. But it was too late.

The Bulls got 20 or more from three starters. Gasol was unstoppable in a throw-back performance, pouring in 27 points on 19 shots to go along with 11 rebounds. Jimmy Butler scored 21 and held DeMar DeRozan to 10 points on 3-of-17 shooting, another frustrating evening for the Raptors' guard. And Rose looked like his old self, primarily in the second half, where he scored 13 of his 20 points before exiting late in the game with a hamstring injury.

With the game airing on TNT - the first time they've hosted a Thursday contest on the network since 2002 - the Raptors were over-matched. They suffered their first home loss of the campaign and were knocked out of first place in the Eastern Conference by a Bulls team that now shares their record at 7-2.

"That's a good experience for us," said Jonas Valanciunas, who played less than five minutes in the second half, struggling defensively against Gasol, after getting off to a strong start. "We're coming off the win streak so that's good. Like a cold shower for us."

"They made a lot of tough shots. They played good tonight and we weren't ready."

DeRozan continues to climb Raps scoring list.

It was a moment DeRozan had been looking forward to, mostly because he was tired of hearing about it. After narrowly missing the milestone in a frustrating outing against the Magic Tuesday, he wasted little time on Thursday.

Fittingly, DeRozan knocked down a mid-range jumper - his bread and butter - over college teammate Taj Gibson nine minutes into the game to pass maligned forward Andrea Bargnani for third on the team's all-time scoring list, having appeared in 41 fewer games with Toronto.

DeRozan had already passed Morris Peterson earlier this month in Boston. Now, he's one step closer to cementing his Raptors legacy.

Only Chris Bosh and Vince Carter, first and second respectively, have scored more points in a Raptors uniform. Even at his current pace, DeRozan is still at least a couple seasons away from catching Carter and Bosh, his former teammate.

Milestone aside, it was another evening to forget for the Raptors' All-Star guard. He has made just seven of his last 32 shots over Toronto's last two games.

"I mean, its fine," he said after Thursday's loss. "I'm not worried about it at all. These games, I understand that they're going to happen. I've just got to learn from it. If this was two years ago I'd think it was the end of the world, but we're only [nine] games in. I'd rather have them games now than later on."