Bulls have just enough to edge scrappy Pistons
The Bulls probably should have understood what sort of night this was going to be in the first quarter when they were hit with 2 technical fouls and notoriously hard-nosed referee Joey Crawford delivered some sort of verbal warning to both benches.
Coach Tom Thibodeau got the first technical and Taj Gibson was hit with the second when he reacted to a play where Detroit guard Reggie Jackson wound up as if to throw a pass, then changed his mind and kept dribbling.
"I didn't say anything. I have a great relationship with Joey," Gibson insisted while sitting at his locker. "I felt like Reggie, he double-dribbled, the whole crowd just went crazy. I saw it and just said, 'Oh!' And I got a little animated, but I was smiling, 'Oh!'
"He just said, 'Hey, Taj,' and he teched me. The whole time our coach is in (the referees') ear and it reflects on us sometimes."
This turned into one of those ugly, physical games. The Bulls squandered a 16-point lead - oh, no - but made some clutch baskets in the waning moments and pulled out an 88-82 victory Friday at the United Center.
"It wasn't a pretty game, but we found a way and that's all that matters," Joakim Noah said.
Toronto lost at Brooklyn on Friday, so the Bulls (46-30) moved back into third place in the East, but their last two performances have not been very impressive. They lost at Milwaukee on Wednesday in a potential playoff preview.
The Bulls built the 16-point lead early in the third quarter Friday, but the score was tied heading into the fourth. Again, the Bulls built a 72-63 advantage and again the Pistons rallied, tying the score at 78-78 with 2:25 left on a steal and lay-in by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
The Bulls shot 38.8 percent from the field in this game and were getting desperate for a scorer to step up. Guard Aaron Brooks answered the call, hitting a 3-pointer just before the shot clock expired, then tossing in an over-the-head runner in the lane.
"He does make those type of shots," Pau Gasol said of Brooks' high degree of difficulty. "I think he makes those type of shots more effectively than the regular shots."
Those 2 baskets produced Brooks' only 5 points of the game. He was 0-for-7 from the field before sinking the 3-pointer.
Detroit (29-47) came back with 4 straight points from center Andre Drummond (14 points, 22 rebounds) to close within 83-82 with 30.8 seconds left.
The Bulls ran the clock down, Gibson missed a jumper, but Gasol was under the rim for a follow slam and 3-point play that made it a 4-point margin with 5.7 seconds on the clock.
That last offensive rebound completed Gasol's 50th double-double of the season, which leads the league. Gasol finished with 26 points and 10 boards, while Jimmy Butler scored 18 points and Noah had 10 assists.
The last time the Bulls faced the Pistons, on March 21 in Auburn Hills, they gave up a 19-point lead in the third quarter and lost handily.
Gibson said veteran center Nazr Mohammed tried to push a sense of urgency onto his teammates.
"This was right around the third, fourth quarter. Nazr really got into guys. He really challenged guys," Gibson said. "I told Nazr, 'That's what we need right now.' We've got a lot of guys who can play, but we need guys to speak up sometimes to push us even harder.
"The coaching staff pushes us all they can, but it's different when you've got guys that won a championship right in front of you giving you the right kind of advice to push you ahead. That's what we need."
The Bulls need to hang on to big leads against sub-.500 teams, but a little veteran advice can't hurt.
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