The Bulls fought hard against a physical Pistons team despite being thin in the frontcourt, falling 108-93 on Wednesday night.
The Chicago Bulls showed a lot of heart in Wednesday night's 108-93 loss to the Detroit Pistons, but they simply ran out of gas down the stretch. The Bulls kept up with the Pistons throughout three quarters, but were thoroughly dominated in the fourth quarter, getting outscored 32-16.
Nikola Vucevic, Lachlan Olbrich, and essentially any frontcourt player who saw the floor for the Bulls on Wednesday night, got overpowered by 6-foot-8, 250 lb. Pistons big man Isaiah Stewart. He went 5-6 (83.3%) from the field in the 1st quarter, and was unstoppable all night on his way to a creer-high 31 points.
Chicago was able to withstand the early onslaught from Stewart and Co, behind some inspired play from Matas Buzelis and Ayo Dosunmu, who both have stepped up as of late in the absence of Chicago's starting backcourt.
Dosunmu essentially matched Stewart in the first half bucket-for-bucket, with Dosunmu racking up 15 first-half points on 7-9 shooting, while Stewart had 17 points on 8-11 shooting in the first half. Buzelis continues to be extremely active on both ends for Chicago, collecting a pair of blocks in the first half and attacking the paint all night.
The Bulls went into the half trailing 52-50, but continued to keep up with Dosunmu and Buzelis combining to shoot 5-8 from the field for 14 points in the third quarter, a frame the Bulls went on to win 27-24.
The fourth quarter was the only point of the game where things got completely out of hand. The Bulls lost the final frame 32-16, with Stewart shooting 3-3 from the field for Detroit and finishing off his bulldozing, career-high scoring night at the expense of a thin Chicago frontcourt.
Lachlan Olbrich looked overmatched at times, turning the ball over essentially the first time he touch it. But he provided physicality and flashed his floater, doing the best he could to help back up Vucevic, who had a 20-point, 16-rebound double-double.
Buzelis' 20 points (and 4 blocks) joined Vucevic, and Dosunmu's team-leading 24 points as the only double digit scorers for Chicago in a tough night for their offense.
Postgame on CHSN, Billy Donovan talked about being concerned about the defensive effort, specifically on how easily the Pistons were able to get inside.
Donovan stated, "...We have to meet some of those rolls a little bit earlier, we gotta be a little bit more physical. We knew it was going to be a physical game. I think, I think there was a lot plays in the game that there were fouls that no fouls were called...for both teams. So I think it was a consistently officiated game across the board and I liked the way our guys physically competed..."
The Bulls--a team that usually dominates the points in the paint battle--lost points in the paint 62-48 on Wednesday night. Chicago takes on the 8-seed Miami Heat on Thursday night at 7 pm in Chicago.