Bulls at Pistons
Blake Griffin stepped up to lead his team in the fourth quarter of a 112-104 victory at the Chicago Bulls, and he and his teammates are hoping to make it a little easier the next time. The Pistons will try to sweep the home-and-home set when they host the Bulls in the finale on Sunday.
Griffin scored 16 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter on Friday and Detroit outscored Chicago 43-24 in the final period to claim a 112-104 triumph - its fourth straight victory and 11th in the last 13 games. "I thought our defense picked up, which created our offense," Pistons coach Dwane Casey told reporters. "We got a rhythm with our defense and it helped our offense get a pace with it, an intensity. We were just going through mud. As much as we were screaming and yelling, we were going through mud in that first half. We finally got some traction. We found a group that was going to compete and play together and play hard." The Bulls led by as many as 21 points in the first half but fell flat after the break and suffered their third loss in four games. "It's frustrating, but we've got to stick together and keep our head up and try to look at the positives," Chicago forward Lauri Markkanen told reporters. "We did have a really good first half, and we can build on that. And, just take a look at the film and see what was successful for us in the first half, and work on it."
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ABOUT THE BULLS (19-48): Chicago's recent dip came after a stretch of five wins in six games and the rebuilding club is just hoping to continue taking steps forward the rest of the way. "I'm hoping this was a learning moment," Bulls coach Jim Boylen told reporters after the loss. "We played about as well in that first half as well as you could play. Came out in the third quarter, I thought our energy was poor. They started stripping us and competing at the rim, and we just didn't play. Obviously, the third quarter did us in." Guard Zach LaVine led the team with 24 points on Friday and is averaging 29.8 points over the last six games.
ABOUT THE PISTONS (33-31): Griffin left Friday's game in the third quarter with a leg injury but returned in the fourth and showed no signs of any issues. "We've come a long way," Griffin told reporters. "We've had a lot of ups and downs this season, but these past three, four weeks, whatever its been, the camaraderie amongst the team has been in the positive. The talk amongst the team has been unreal. One through 13, everybody has been supporting each other, so I just wanted to be out there with my guys." Detroit worked its way into the No. 6 spot in the East with its recent run and will hit the road to play two of the teams chasing it in the standings at Brooklyn and Miami this week.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Pistons C Andre Drummond is enjoying a streak of 17 straight double-doubles after collecting 20 points and 24 rebounds on Friday.
2. Markkanen is 3-of-16 from 3-point range over the last three games.
3. Detroit stretched its winning streak in the series to six in a row with Friday's triumph.