Bulls guard Denzel Valentine (left) drives to the net as Raptors centre Jakob Poeltl defends in Toronto on Tuesday night.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
Nothing like a little bloodletting to get the blood boiling.
After getting pushed around for most of three quarters by the Chicago Bulls at the Air Canada Centre, the Toronto Raptors engaged in a bit of fisticuffs with the visitors, who were taking aim on their 12th consecutive NBA victory against the home side.
Both Chicago's Robin Lopez and Toronto's Serge Ibaka were ejected from the contest for fighting in the resulting melee that occurred late in the third quarter with the Bulls enjoying a 16-point lead.
The altercation lifted Toronto out of its stupor as the club engineered a stunning comeback to earn a raucous 122-120 overtime victory before an enthralled, sold-out gathering of 19,800 that lapped up every single second of the on-court mayhem.
The Bulls carted a 94-79 lead into the fourth quarter, where their ultimate success against Toronto seemed almost assured.
But the Raptors, spurred on by the third-quarter fisticuffs, fought back bravely and a DeMar DeRozan daring drive late in the fourth quarter knotted the score at 113-113 and sent the game into a five-minute overtime session.
There the Raptors were able to prevail with once again DeRozan setting the stage, first hitting a 16-foot jumper that lifted Toronto in front 117-115 with just more than a minute to go.
It was too much for Chicago to overcome.
DeRozan was a one-man wrecking crew in the contest, going off for a game-high 42 points to go with eight assists and seven rebounds. Jimmy Butler responded with 37 for the Bulls while also adding 10 rebounds.
After a defensive stop it was DeRozan again, bulling his way toward the basket for another try. The shot missed, but Patrick Patterson was there to clean up at the boards for an easy put back that put Toronto in front by four with 44.7 seconds remaining.
It was a stunning turnaround in a game the Raptors appeared destined to lose.
After Butler canned a three-point shot in the latter stages of the third quarter that moved the Bulls in front 88-72, Lopez and Ibaka had some sort of disagreement beneath the Chicago basket.
A crowd quickly formed, but that did not prevent Lopez from reaching over and trying to land a round-house right to the head of Ibaka. Ibaka responded in kind and the dance was full on at that point.
It did not end there.
Shortly after Chicago forward Nikola Mirotic and Jamaal Magloire, an assistant coach for the Raptors and former NBA centre, got into a shoving match on the court near the Raptors bench.
After the officials went to the scorer's bench to watch the replays and figure out who did what to whom, the decision was made to hand both Lopez and Ibaka with fighting technical fouls, which come with automatic game ejections.
The fighting misdemeanours will also catch the attention of the league office which could levy fines not exceeding $50,000 (U.S.) against both players and perhaps hand down suspensions.
Double technical fouls were also assessed to Mirotic and Magloire for their role in the melee.
Although the Bulls are in danger of missing the playoffs for a third straight season, they have always managed to bring their A-game whenever they've played the Raptors of late.
The Bulls came into the game having won their past 11 encounters against the Raptors, a rather bewildering streak that had its beginnings back in 2014.
The fast start that the Raptors wanted Tuesday night against Chicago didn't really materialize as the Bulls, after leading by as many as nine points, would settle for a 31-27 lead.
Shooting at a 68.8 per cent (11-of-16) clip, as the Bulls did that opening frame, will usually get the job done.
The Bulls would push their lead back up to 10 at 41-31 early in the second after a couple back-to-back wide-open three-pointers by Bobby Portis and then Denzel Valentine.
The Raptors' lack of perimeter defence continued to haunt them.
Portis launched a 20-foot pull-up jumper with nary a hand in his face that lovingly fell through the bucket. And when Paul Zipser did the same from beyond the three-point arch Chicago's lead had grown to 16 at 49-33.
Toronto yanked up its socks a bit after that and a real long three from DeRozan with 2.5 seconds left on the clock cut Chicago's lead to a more palatable 59-54 by the half.
Any momentum Toronto might have taken from DeRozan's three fizzled out quickly in the combative third quarter, in which Chicago continued to land their shots from long range to jack their lead back up.