After an emotional Monday night following a loss at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks, the Detroit Pistons turned things around on Tuesday in Chicago.
With little downtime, Detroit paid a visit to the Chicago Bulls for the second night of a back-to-back. Considering the way their first three games returning from the NBA All-Star break played out, Detroit needed something to uplift their spirit this week.
A win against the Bulls did the trick, leaving Monty Williams proud of the way his guys responded.
“The way they’ve handled this past week… We lose [Isaiah Stewart] right before the game. We play our tails off in the second half in Indianapolis and come up short. The last two games, end-of-game situations, we come up short. Traveled, come here, get here late, and they just come in wide-eyed, ready to go and compete. I told them it takes a lot of character and integrity, and connection to be able to win games on the road against a team that’s been playing pretty well,” Williams told reporters after the matchup.
By no means did the Pistons play a perfect game. Being on the second leg of a back-to-back, Detroit had a hard time taking care of the ball on the offensive end of the floor. With 20 turnovers, the Pistons were on the wrong end of a lopsided battle, which helped the Bulls generate 25 points in transition.
Fortunately for Detroit, a strong defensive showing made up for the turnover troubles. Chicago’s stars got their points, as DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic combined for 50. Even the veteran center Andre Drummond had a dominant offensive showing off the bench, scoring 20 points on 14 shots from the field.
Beyond the notable group, the Bulls struggled from the field, knocking down just 39.8 percent of their shots. From three, they couldn’t buy a bucket, making just two of their 29 attempts from deep.
The Pistons held the Bulls to just 95 points as they scored 105 of their own. With that victory, the Pistons snapped a six-game losing streak to collect their ninth win of the year, tying them with the Washington Wizards.
For a rebuilding squad that’s at the bottom of the barrel in the East, the Pistons took hold of a notable achievement on Tuesday. After losing in heartbreak fashion over the last two games, filling up with frustration due to the way Monday’s outing finished in New York, the Pistons were searching for something positive to put them in the right mindset before getting the next couple of days off. Now, they are in great spirits heading into Friday’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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