Coming off an eye-catching victory over the New York Knicks on Thursday, the Detroit Pistons didn’t get caught up in any of the hype.
The Pistons were right back to grinding out a win on the road as they faced their division foe Chicago Bulls for the final time in the regular season.
Behind 26 points and 13 rebounds from a returning Jalen Duren and 18 points from Cade Cunningham — falling one rebound shy of a triple-double — the Pistons downed the Bulls, 126-110, Saturday night.
They secured a 3-1 regular-season series victory over Chicago, while extending their second-longest winning streak of the season to five consecutive games. The Pistons (42-13) put up 73 second-half points on the Bulls and made good on 23 turnovers from Chicago, which were turned into 28 points in a resounding victory.
Cunningham and Chicago’s Josh Giddey exchanged a pair of early three-pointers before the two teams went separate directions with their offense.
The Bulls (24-33) focused heavily on outside shooting as they hit 6-of-7 from deep to develop a quick lead, with 18 of 21 points coming from beyond the arc.
Detroit went to the paint to generate offense, helping go out on an 11-1 run with 20 of 28 points coming from down low. The Pistons would outscore the Bulls 68-38 in the paint for the night.
The Bulls’ rapid scoring slowed as they went over four minutes without a field goal, but even eight points in the period from Cunningham didn’t do enough to build a solid lead.
An 8-0 run from Chicago in the final three minutes of the first had Detroit down by two.
Cunningham drained another three early in the second — securing his third straight game with three-plus triples for the first time this season — before the Pistons got back to paint offense with Paul Reed finishing a pair at the rim.
It was Duren’s turn to take control in his return from a two-game suspension, using the advantage of facing a Chicago team thin on front-court defense as he scored eight of his 13 first-half points in the quarter.
He had six rebounds in the period, including four on offense. Two of those boards resulted in direct scores for Duren and aided in getting the Pistons ahead 53-50 at the half.
The Pistons came out firing in the second, scoring eight unanswered to push out in front. It was Tobias Harris and Duncan Robinson hitting threes and starting strong quarters from each with eight points to get Detroit ahead.
As a team, the Pistons shot 68% from the field in the quarter and scored 44 points, with Duren posting 10 and Cunningham serving as key provider with seven of his game-high 13 assists notched in the period.
Leading by 21 heading into the fourth, the Pistons had no trouble putting away the Bulls, who never got any closer than 14. Robinson scored nine of his 17 points in the fourth to close out the win at United Center.
BOX SCORE
Up next: The Pistons return home for the first time since Feb. 6 to take on the San Antonio Spurs (39-16) on Monday. This is Detroit’s first meeting of the season with the Spurs.