Pistons lose cool, Bulls take advantage in 111-101 win

Instead, Pau Gasol turned in one of his best games of the season, Derrick Rose was able to get his offense going and the Bulls earned a hard fought 111-101 victory on the road.

FREE THROW – Even though the Pistons won both previous meetings with Chicago, they did it without benefit of much punch from the 3-point line. Ersan Ilyasova was great early and finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

The skinny: On Dec. 18, the Pistons won in four overtimes, 147-144, in Chicago. Then when the Pistons caught fire midway through the first quarter and seemingly couldn’t miss, he single-handedly kept Chicago in the game, rattling off six straight points over the final two minutes. Caldwell-Pope and Andre Drummond received technicals, and then Caldwell-Pope got another in the final seconds of the quarter and was ejected.

ABOUT THE PISTONS (22-18): Detroit has shown flashes of being the type of team that can compete with the likes of Golden State, Cleveland and Chicago on a regular basis, and the defensive effort on Saturday is something it hopes will carry over more consistently.

Gasol went off for a season-high 31 points, knocking down 13-of-18 shots from the field.

The Bulls were playing their first game since center Joakim Noah suffered a dislocated left shoulder on Friday. Chicago, led by Jimmy Butler nowadays, have lost four of their last five.

Pistons 48, Bulls 48 (2:20): KCP basket and foul gives Detroit a chance to take a 1-point lead out of the timeout. Doug McDermott with eight off the Bulls’ bench, and Chicago has 11 assists. “The shot was going in [Monday] and we went to it”.

“Good game, glad we played the way we did, ” Gasol said. “We got crushed with the bench and after that, we just got pretty well taken apart the rest of the game”.

Bulls: One area in which Noah’s absence was felt was on the boards, where the Pistons had a 50-38 advantage. The Bulls allowed 20 offensive rebounds but finished only one point behind (17-16) in second-chance points.

“You make him pay a little bit, ” Gasol said of the plan with Drummond. Detroit shoots 45 percent but 5 of 25 from 3, while Chicago finishes 52 percent and 9 of 21 from long range. Day, as the Pistons play their third game this season against the Chicago Bulls, in third place in the NBA’s Eastern Conference.

In the first, it was an overtime win for the Pistons thanks to a big game by Marcus Morris who had 26 points, seven rebounds and two assists.

Next for the Bulls are the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday.

©2016 Fox Sports Interactive Media, LLC.