Detroit Pistons 102 Chicago Bulls 91

The Detroit Pistons got there fourth win in five games last night as they beat the Chicago Bulls 102-91 at The Palace of Auburn Hills. The win gets the Pistons over .500 on the season at 12-11. This was the third loss in a row for the Bulls and there record fell to 11-10.

Is it time to look at the Bulls schedule and question if fatigue is an issue. The Bulls had a solid 7-game west coast road trip going 4-3. That road trip ended November 25th and they got four days off before playing there next game. Then starting with there game November 30th the Bulls will play 10 games in 12 days. While seven of the game at  home there is travel involved. Earlier the Bulls had a the 2nd of a back to back in Dallas. Last nights game was also the 2nd of a back to back and they went from Chicago to Detroit. Now that’s not a terrible travel, but being the 2nd game of a set could be the issue. The Bulls have five games left in this set of games. They end with a set of back to back games against the Milwaukee Bucks on December 15th and 16th.

The Pistons started the game with three 3-point shoots. They made two and Reggie Jackson was fouled on his and made 2 of his 3 free throws to give the Pistons an 8-0 lead to start the game. The Bulls went on a 9-2 run to get right back in the game at 10-9. The Pistons went on to control the rest of the 1st quarter scoring 22 points to the Bulls 11. Detroit took a 32-21 lead after one quarter.

The Pistons built there lead to 17 points with 3:47 left in the 2nd quarter at 51-34 after an Andre Drummond dunk. Drummond’s dunk was the last points the Pistons would score in the quarter as the Bulls did there best to cut down the lead. Chicago scored the final 10 points of the quarter to cut the Detroit lead to 7 points at 51-44 going into halftime.

The Bulls hit the first 6 points of the 3rd quarter and cut the lead to 1-point at 51-50. The Pistons built the lead back to 5-points at 57-52, but then the Bulls went on a 12-5 run to tie the game at 64 all. From there the teams traded the lead seven times in the final 4:11 of the quarter and it was the Bulls that ended up with a 72-71 lead after three quarters.

The Pistons came back at the beginning of the 4th quarter to take the lead at 76-75 and never gave the lead up again. Darrun Hilliard hit a lay up with 5:48 left in the game to extend the Pistons lead to 10 at 89-79. The Bulls never got any closer than 6 points as the Pistons pulled away for a 102-91 win.

Tobias Harris was the Pistons leading scorer with 22 points. Andre Drummond had 15 points and tied for the game high in rebounds with 10. Marcus Morris scored 15 points and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 12 points. Ish Smith came off the Pistons bench to lead the game in assists with 10.

Jimmy Butler was the Bulls and the games leading scorer with 32 points. Dwayne Wade had 19 points and a team high 7 assists while Taj Gibson had a double-double scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds to tie for the game high. Rajon Rondo returned from his one game suspension to add 10 points.

Detroit has to turn around and play again tonight as they’ll travel to Charlotte to face the 12-9 Hornets. The Bulls get a day off before they face one of the top teams in the Western Conference. On Thursday night the Bulls play the 18-4 San Antonio Spurs.