The Chicago Bulls attempt to keep one streak going and end another when they visit Detroit on Wednesday.
Chicago won the last 10 meetings with the Pistons and can complete a sweep of this season’s four-game series. The Bulls will also be seeking to halt their five-game losing streak.
They were defeated by another Eastern Conference contender, Philadelphia, on Monday. With center Nikola Vucevic sidelined by hamstring tightness, the Bulls’ interior defense was shredded by Joel Embiid, who poured in 43 points in the Sixers’ 121-106 triumph.
“I don’t think anyone in the locker room — no one on our staff, no one that we’re with day to day — no one’s panicking,” center Tristan Thompson said. “We’ve got to all look in the mirror and see what can we do better for this team to help us. We’ve got to stay the course.”
Chicago was 39-21 after winning its first game following the All-Star break. Injuries appear to have caught up with the Bulls. They’ve been without guards Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso since mid-January, while forward Patrick Williams has only appeared in five games.
DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine have been carrying the scoring load.
“We’ve got to figure out how to win some of these games,” LaVine said. “I’ll take me and DeMar against anybody in the entire world. I feel strongly about that, and I still do. But it doesn’t matter if you don’t win games. We have to start going out there and putting some of these W’s up.”
The Bulls are 0-9 against the teams ahead of them in the conference standings.
“I don’t know if we’ll ever get whole,” coach Billy Donovan said. “This group right now not (being) whole, we have not performed really, really well against these teams. Our margin for error against these teams is very, very small and there’s a lot of things we’ve got to do much better. With this current team that we have right now, we have to understand what really goes into winning, what the margins are and where we put ourselves in a position where we’re at a disadvantage.”
Detroit is not to be overlooked despite the Bulls’ dominance the last three seasons. The Pistons are on their first three-game winning streak since March 2019 after defeating Atlanta in overtime, 113-110, on Monday.
Cade Cunningham, the top pick in last year’s draft, led the way with 28 points and 10 assists. Coach Dwane Casey said Cunningham deserves some hardware after the season.
“He’s Rookie of the Year,” Casey said. “That’s not even close as far as talent evaluation. I’ve been in it a long time. He’s playing like a 10-year vet.”
Cunningham’s 3-pointer in the opening minute of overtime gave the Pistons the lead for keeps. He had seven points in the extra session.
“You can see, late game, he’s extremely confident having the ball in his hands,” guard Killian Hayes said. “Making big shots. Making the big pass.”
The Pistons were 12-45 in mid-February. They’ve won six of their last eight games.
“We’re growing,” Casey said. “They’re taking steps. We’re not a finished product yet. I wish this was back in November, but woulda-coulda-shoulda. It takes time for guys to grow. I hope this gives us a bounce into next year.”
–Field Level Media