TORONTO – As this line is being read, there’s a good chance that a Toronto Raptors player has missed another free throw.

That’s how play-in game quickly turned into played-out.

And Zach LaVine took advantage of every moment of it.

Thanks to the Raptors taking the “free” out of free throw line by going 18-of-36 from the stripe, as well as LaVine having one of his most meaningful performances by scoring 39 points, the Bulls advanced to the second play-in game, heading to Miami on Friday with the 109-105 win.

“I give them a lot of credit,’’ coach Billy Donovan said of the comeback. “In that game getting down like that, and having the toughness to come back. We made plays, we helped each other.’’

Patrick Beverley – the face of the play-in tournament last season with Minnesota – definitely had a checklist in his mind of how he felt he and his Bulls teammates needed to approach the game right from the tip.

Start fast, and, “Teams I’ve been on in the past, max guys, they’ve done so and I don’t expect anything different from this group.’’

Neither happened.

Within the first two minutes, the Raptors had a five-point lead and were already playing with force on the glass, and the lone max player for the Bulls in LaVine, well, he again chose to ease his way into the game.

By the end of that opening stanza, LaVine had just four points on four shots, while the two-time All-Star watched his team fall behind in the rebound game. A deficit that only grew in the second quarter, as the Bulls were outrebounded 12-5, including allowing five offensive rebounds.

But the real backbreaker came courtesy of Fred VanVleet, as the two teams were seemingly headed to the halftime locker rooms to start making adjustments. VanVleet had different ideas.

After forcing the Bulls into a shot-clock violation with 2.7 seconds left, the ball was inbounded from Scottie Barnes to VanVleet, who took a running prayer from 40 feet away. Prayer answered, as the three at the buzzer put the Bulls in the dreaded double-digit deficit with two quarters in the books.

As bad as it looked for the visiting team, one stat that went under the radar began haunting Toronto by the third. They were absolutely atrocious from the free throw line.

The first-half lead masked the 8-for-14 showing at the stripe, but by the third it became a running joke. Toronto watched the lead slowly evaporate as LaVine finally got hot and the Raptors helped with a 5-for-12 showing from the free throw line in the stanza.

Heading into the fourth, the Bulls had cut the deficit to 81-72, while Toronto was an embarrassing 13-for-26 (50%) from the free throw line.

Thirteen misses that would each come back to haunt them, as would DeMar DeRozan’s daughter, Diar, who was the courtside phantom screamer picked up on camera with every Raptors free throw attempt.

They found out how much, as LaVine’s second-half scoring onslaught continued. His three with 9:02 left cut the lead to five. He then made two free throws to make it a three-point game, and when Alex Caruso hit a corner three with 6:26 left the game was tied, the hole climbed out of.

The Bulls controlled the final five-plus minutes of action, not pulling away, but not giving in. With 28.7 seconds left and up three, Pascal Siakam cut it to one with the two-handed slam, leaving Donovan to call the timeout and go to the dry board.

He drew up a play for LaVine, and the two-time All-Star again hit the key free throws.