Bulls beat up Pistons on boards, scoreboard
The Bulls bucked some trends to pull off a 119-107 win at Detroit on Saturday.
For starters, they out-rebounded the Pistons 46-29, which is a huge turnaround from what the Bulls are used to, especially with the league's leading rebounder, Andre Drummond, on the floor.
Center Wendell Carter Jr. led the way with 12 boards. Otherwise, the rebounding was balanced for the Bulls. Tomas Satoransky, Lauri Markkanen, Zach LaVine and Coby White all had at least 5.
The Bulls (12-19) are now 7-3 when they outrebound their opponent, 5-16 when they don't. This was the largest rebounding advantage the Bulls have produced all season and the second time they won the boards by 10 or more.
"We got rebounds from our perimeter players," coach Jim Boylen told reporters after the game. "It's something we talked about before the game. We won the boards, which I think you have to do in this building to have a chance to win. I didn't like the turnovers, but when you make 18 threes, you have a little margin for error. We got a lot from a lot of guys."
Zach LaVine led the Bulls with 33 points, and all five starters shot better than 50% from the field. Satoransky scored 16 points, Markkanen 15 and Carter 12.
Another huge difference was White connecting from 3-point range. The rookie from North Carolina went 5-for-7 from 3-point land and finished with 19 points. LaVine was also 5 of 7 from long range.
This was a welcome result for White, because he had made just 2 of 21 shots from 3-point land in the previous six games. White got hot in the third quarter, when the Bulls rallied from a 6-point halftime deficit and took control of the game.
"You have to give the guys credit on that," Boylen said. "They find him, they like it when he gets it going and I thought it was really good."
The Pistons (11-19) tied the game briefly at 96-96 with 9:10 left in the fourth quarter. The Bulls responded by holding Detroit scoreless for the next three minutes and took the lead for good on a 3-pointer from LaVine.
LaVine added another 3-pointer a few minutes later. Then the Bulls got a couple of offensive rebounds and Markkanen's tip-in had them in control at 108-99 with 3:08 remaining.
Markieff Morris led the Pistons with 23 points, while Drummond finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Detroit played without power forward Blake Griffin and ex-Bulls guard Derrick Rose due to knee soreness. The Pistons were also playing the second leg of back-to-back games after losing in Boston on Friday.
The Bulls improved to 3-0 against the Pistons this season and won consecutive road games for the first time this year. They've gone 6-5 in December and are 6-6 since Kris Dunn joined the starting lineup.
In those 11 games, LaVine is averaging 26.1 points and 3.8 assists while shooting 41% from 3-point range. Dunn talked about LaVine's improving offense after the game.
"It's almost like setting up the table. You just can't make food and then think you're just going to eat it out of the pot," Dunn said. "You've got to put the plates down, you've got to put the forks down, you've got to put the glasses down. That's what he's doing. He's not scoring, scoring, scoring, scoring. That's easy to guard. You're getting your team involved, you still stay aggressive, and when the fourth quarter comes, be you."
Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls