In the first half the Chicago Bulls held a double digit lead against the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons where able to get the Bulls lead down to four points gong into the half and when the Bulls struggle scoring in the 2nd half again Detroit took advantage and pulled away to a 14 point 109-95 victory.
Early on it was the Pistons who had trouble scoring as the Bulls jumped out to a 13-4. The Pistons ran off 5 straight points to cut the Bulls lead to 13-9 with 5:31 left in the quarter. The Bulls went on a run of 13-5 to finest out the 1st quarter as the Pistons could manage just 14 points in the quarter. Chicago took a 26-14 lead after one quarter.
Chicago was able to build their lead to 13 points early in the 2nd quarter at 33-20, but Detroit scored 4 points in a row to knock the lead back into single digits at 33-24. Chicago was able to push their lead back to double digits four different times. The last double digit lead the Bulls had was 51-41 with 2:00 minutes left in the quarter. The Pistons finished the quarter on a 10-4 run to cut the Bulls lead to 55-51 going into halftime.
Detroit got the game even very quickly in the 3rd quarter at 59 all when Reggie Jackson hit a 3-pointer with 10:11 left in the quarter. The teams traded the lead four different times and the game was also tied four different times in the quarter. Jimmy Butler scored the final basket of the quarter with :03 seconds left to tie the game at 79 all.
Tobias Harris scored the first basket of the 4th quarter to give the Pistons the lead at 81-79. It was a lead that the Pistons would never relinquish. Chicago cut the Pitons lead to one point on a couple of occasions, but the Bulls scored just 16 points in the 4th quarter. The Pistons slowly built there lead; they even scored the final 7 points of the game to take a 109-95 win.
Reggie Jackson was the Pistons leading scorer with 26 points. Jackson score 24 of his team high 26 points in the 2nd half of the game. Jon Leuer scored 16 points, Marcus Morris scored 13 points and Andre Drummond added 12 points. Tobias Harris (13 points) and Aron Baynes (12 points) came off the Detroit bench to reach double figures. Drummond and Harris tied for the team lead in rebounds with 8 apiece while Ish Smith handed out a team high 7 assists.
Jimmy Butler was the Bulls and the games high scorer with 27 points. Butler was also the games top rebounder grabbing 9 of them. Robin Lopez added 18 points for the Bulls while Bobby Portis scored 10 points. The only Chicago player to reach double figures coming off the bench was Cameron Payne with 14 points.
The win by the Pistons made their record the same as the Bulls at 31-32. While the teams have the same won-loss record Detroit holds the tiebreaker and is currently holding the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference while Chicago is the 8th seed. Detroit gets a day off before they play a road game Wednesday night against the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers ate currently 32-31 a game ahead of the Pistons in the standings. The Bulls also get a day off as they’ll stay on the road to face the 23-41 Orlando Magic Wednesday night.