Toronto Raptors' Jose Calderon was in a celebratory mood on Friday thanks to a 23 point effort and a desperately needed win. (Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press)

Jose Calderon hasn't been truly healthy all season, and neither have his Toronto Raptors.

Friday night in Chicago, both seemed hale and hearty again as the Raptors turned in one of their best efforts in weeks in a 114-94 victory over the Bulls.

Calderon, playing for just the second time since Jan. 2 (the other a bad-idea appearance on the 11th against Boston) and obviously recovered from a hamstring injury, tossed in 23 points, added six assists and looked every inch in charge in this one.

The result was an end to the Raptors' seven-game losing string and a key victory as they improved to 17-28 on the year. Chicago is 18-26.

"It's completely different with him on the floor," Toronto interim coach Jay Triano said of Calderon. "He's in control of the ball. He's in control of the other players on the floor. He makes shots. He makes plays.

"He defended extremely well for being out as long as he was. We had to manage his minutes and that was a little cumbersome at times, but he just played great."

Andrea Bargnani had 22 points for the winners, scoring in double figures for the 14th straight game, while Chris Bosh had 17 and Joey Graham had 16.

Anthony Parker, playing both shooting guard with the starters and point at times while Calderon rested, was also strong with 14 points and seven helpers. Jermaine O'Neal had seven points and four turnovers off the bench.

"We played 48 minutes for the first time in a long time," Calderon said. "We have to keep playing. They were close with three minutes left or something like that and we just took over."

Ben Gordon had 19 to lead the Bulls, who lost for the fourth straight time.

Jose in control

Just how influential Calderon was to this game was shown in the latter stages of the fourth quarter.

Toronto had led by as much as 11 early in the final period but the game stood at 89-82 when Calderon came back in with about eight minutes left.

After that, the Raptors outscored the Bulls 25-12 and ended with a 23-4 flourish to easily pull away.

As a topper to the evening, Calderon hit a pair of free throws to give him 83 straight, just 17 off the all-time NBA record of 97 in a row set by Michael Williams.

Runs ran through the night

Toronto opened the third quarter on a 13-1 run and seemed to be taking control of the game, helped by Joakim Noah's trip back to the bench when the stalwart Chicago defender (and awful shooter) took his fifth foul just a couple of minutes in.

He would eventually foul out completely with 4:38 left in the contest.

But the Raptors began to put up some questionable shots and let the Bulls back in courtesy of an 8-0 run of their own.

That was when Parker, playing with growing confidence over recent games, contributed a couple of baskets and some key assists to build the lead back to nine at 83-74 into the fourth.

First 24 a see-saw

A spirited, though somewhat sloppy first half produced 15 lead changes and a 54-54 tie into the dressing room.

It should have turned out better for the Raptors, who could have been a half-dozen up but for the cold shooting hand of Bosh. He went two-for-nine in the opening 24 minutes.

Calderon made all four of his shots from the field in the first half and contributed seven assists as the Toronto offence began moving the ball around nicely.

Bargnani went into the dressing room at half time with 11 points on the board to lead all scorers.

He also contributed the most entertaining, though ultimately fruitless, few seconds of the half by missing a shot, getting his own rebound, missing again on a turnaround, getting that board and then tossing up a long clanker off the rim.

Chicago used a 12-2 run in the second quarter to erase a deficit and take the lead, hitting four consecutive threes in that time as Toronto began to collapse into the basket defensively to plug a leak inside.

Gordon and Kirk Hinrich (who would finish with 17) had nine each for the Bulls.