Cade Cunningham led seven Detroit players in double figures with 22 points and 15 assists as the host Pistons downed the Chicago Bulls, 127-119, on Sunday afternoon.
Jalen Duren supplied 21 points, 13 rebounds and four assists, while Malik Beasley had 19 points, five assists and three steals. Tobias Harris added 16 points.
Coby White led Chicago with 22 points. Nikola Vucevic recorded a triple-double with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, while Josh Giddey had 20 points and 11 rebounds.
Bulls wing Zach LaVine, the team’s top scorer, missed the game for personal reasons. Chicago guard Dalen Terry departed the game in the third quarter due to a left knee injury.
Chicago had won 18 of the previous 20 meetings with Detroit.
Vucevic scored nine first-quarter points as Chicago took a 35-30 lead. Detroit controlled the second quarter, finishing the half on a 14-4 run to grab a 64-54 halftime lead.
Duren had four points, six rebounds, an assist and a steal during that run. Cunningham finished the half with a team-high 11 points and Harris had 10.
The Bulls quickly cut the Pistons’ lead to two by starting the second half on a 14-6 run. Ayo Dosunmu scored the first five of those Chicago points.
Detroit answered with a 9-2 spurt to make it 79-70. Beasley restored the double-digit advantage at 84-74 with a short-range basket off a Cunningham feed.
After the Bulls pulled with four points, the Pistons finished the quarter with a 9-4 spurt and carried a 95-86 lead into the fourth.
Detroit proceeded to score the first eight points of the quarter to stretch its advantage to 17 points. Simone Fontecchio hit a pair of free throws before Marcus Sasser set up Beasley for a pair of 3-pointers.
The Bulls gradually chipped away and cut their deficit to seven, 113-106, on a Giddey dunk. Tim Hardaway Jr. and Beasley soon drained 3s to give Detroit more breathing room.
Dosunmu’s basket with under two minutes made it an eight-point game but dunks by Harris and Duren on Detroit’s next two possessions put the game away.
–Field Level Media
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