Chicago Bulls sophomore forward Doug McDermott erupted with a career-high of 30 points to help the injury-depleted six-time NBA champion team get the better of the Eastern Conference second best squad Toronto Raptors with a 116-106 victory at the United Center on Friday night.

McDermott, who was the 2014 NBA draft 11^th overall pick, played for 30.32 minutes shooting 13-of-17 from the field and connecting four treys of his five attempts from beyond the arc.

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"It was a long-time coming," the 24-year-old former Creighton University student said. "There's been a lot of ups and downs, so far, and I just stayed with it. It's just one game so I'm not going to get too high on myself, but it's definitely a good start for my confidence. ... Hopefully I can build off it."

2011 NBA Most Valuable Player Derrick Rose finished the night with 26 points, while veteran center Pau Gasol registered a double-double game performance of 18 points and 11 defensive rebounds. The Spanish basketball superstar was just an assist short of closing the game with a triple-double for the Bulls, who have beaten the Raptors for the eight consecutive games since 2013.

Chicago was playing without Joakim Noah, Nikola Mirotic and Jimmy Butler because of injuries.

The Bulls got the slight edge in the rebounds department with a team combined 49 boards compared to the Raptor's 45. Chicago also got a better field goal percentage of 51.6 percent (dropping 48 shots of the team's 93 attempts) with Toronto's 43.2 percent (38-of-88).

Toronto's dynamic duo Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan finished the night with 27 points and 22 points respectively, while center Jonas Valanciunas had a double-double game production of 25 points and 12 rebounds.

The defeat was the Raptors 18^th loss in 53 games they have played this season. Toronto is currently 17-12 on road and 18-6 at home.

The Chicago Bulls will be hosting the Los Angeles Lakers, while the Memphis Grizzlies will be visiting the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.

TagsNBA, Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors