Pistons top Bulls again, enter All-Star break on positive note

Coty M. Davis, The Detroit News on Feb 12, 2025

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CHICAGO — One night after recording their largest victory of the season, coach J.B. Bickerstaff assigned the Detroit Pistons three attributes to concentrate on during the second night of their back-to-back set against the Chicago Bulls. Twenty-four hours earlier, the Pistons dominated the Bulls on their way to a 40-point win. In an effort to hold his team accountable to the standard, Bickerstaff challenged Detroit's purpose, maturity, growth and professionalism.

"The guys did a really good job last night of staying focused for 48 minutes," Bickerstaff said. "It’s important that we do the same and continue to have respect for our opponent and understand that they're probably going to come out a little (ticked) off — have a little edge to them. So, we need to make sure that we're prepared for that, and we match that energy to start the game."

Bickerstaff's assessment of the Bulls proved accurate. The Pistons didn't gain control of the game until Cade Cunningham's right-to-left one-handed dunk over Matas Buzelis at the 8:55 mark of the third quarter. Detroit outscored Chicago 30-23 during the period, resulting in a 128-110 win at the United Center.

Cunningham scored 13 of his team-best 29 points during the period to go along with seven assists. He led the Pistons to their fourth consecutive win while improving their overall record to 29-26.

Ausar Thompson scored the Pistons' first basket with a two-handed dunk just under 20 seconds into the game. However, the Bulls approached Wednesday's game with a sense of urgency to avoid a second consecutive embarrassing loss.

Three lead changes occurred in the first quarter, and the Pistons and Bulls finished the period tied at 32. The Bulls surpassed their total points from the first half of Tuesday night's loss, in which they scored a combined 29 points in 24 minutes.

The two franchises continued to exchange leads until midway through the second quarter when the Pistons went on an 8-0 run following Thompson's one-handed alley-oop dunk assisted by Jalen Duren.

The separation Detroit began to create led to a 66-59 lead by halftime. Their seven-point advantage ended the Pistons' three-game streak of holding a double-digit lead by intermission. Over the previous three games, they had an average halftime lead of 30.3 points.

Thompson scored in double-figures for the seventh consecutive game with 19 points. He also added six assists and five rebounds. Duren's alley-oop to Thompson was one of five assists he registered amid a double-double of 16 points, 13 rebounds, two blocks and a pair of steals.

Ayo Dosunmu led Chicago with 23 points, while Nikola Vučević added 22 points and 13 rebounds. Tre Jones added 15 points off the bench.

Observations and notes vs. Bulls

— Harris enters All-Star break on a hot streak: Tobias Harris had another impressive scoring performance by adding 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Over the last three games, Harris had averaged 20.0 points on 59.5% shooting and 5.3 rebounds.

— Containing Beasley: After scoring a team-high 24 points amid the Pistons blowout victory, Malik Beasley had a quiet 14-point performance against the Bulls 24 hours later. Chicago made Beasley a prime focus of its defensive scheme. Beasley, who came in the game averaging 25.7 points on 48.8% 3-point shooting, did not receive his first catch-and-shoot triple until the 7:54 mark of the second period.

— Pistons win regular-season series: With the win, the Pistons won their four-game regular-season series against the Bulls 3-1. This is the first time since the Pistons' 4-0 sweep against Chicago during the 2018-19 season.

Up next

The Pistons have the next eight days off as part of the All-Star break. On Feb. 21, they will continue their four-game road trip against the San Antonio Spurs. Tipoff is slated for 8:30 p.m.