Chicago Bulls fall to Detroit Pistons on the road

In a contest where they shot 35% from the field, the Chicago Bulls fell flat in an 99-83 loss to the Detroit Pistons.

The Chicago Bulls came out of the gates strong in Friday night’s loss to the Detroit Pistons. Detroit looked flat-footed on defense and lackadaisical on offense, while the Bulls came out running.

Chicago took advantage of the sloppy passing and low energy of the Pistons early on. Detroit was slow to get back on defense and the Bulls capitalized by consistently pushing the ball in transition after missed shots and steals.

Kris Dunn and Zach LaVine connected on a few fast breaks, and LaVine flashed some of the better finishing he had before his injury.

Chicago struggled on defense, however, when their bench made it onto the floor. Detroit took advantage of lazy closeouts and open cutting lanes to chip at the Bulls’ lead.

Bulls were able to surge at times to stave off the Pistons, but Detroit finished the half with the lead.

Chicago’s offense sputtered in the third quarter, and they finished with just 15 points. The defense wasn’t any better and Detroit consistently got easy cuts and layups against the Bulls D.

The fourth brought with it a better showing by the Bulls, but it wasn’t enough to avoid the blowout. They were never really able to get back into striking distance in the second half, and no single player looked like they were ready to step up.

All but two of the young Bulls struggled

Lauri Markkanen and LaVine combined to shoot 6/27 from the field and 0/8 from the three.

LaVine continues to struggle to use his length to finish and he settles too often for bad step-back threes. Markkanen was simply knocked off the block anytime he tried to get inside, but continued to throw up questionable hooks and shots.

The third member of the Bulls’ young Big Three, Dunn, had a solid game with 13 points, four assists, and three steals on solid shooting.

The rest of the younger players struggled from the field and played an overall sloppy game. The spark that Bulls like David Nwaba and Denzel Valentine usually bring was absent.

Is the Cam Payne comeback real?

The only other young Bull who played a solid game came from none other than Cameron Payne.

He finished the night with 17 points and two steals while making six out of his ten shots, including four threes.

Payne, long lamented as Chicago’s tank commander, came back during the tail-end of February after recovering from a foot injury. In the seven games he’s played thus far, he’s averaging 6.7 points 3.3 assists in 17.7 minutes per game.

The numbers aren’t eye-popping and the sample size is small, but Payne looks leaps and bounds better than he did last season. He’s not forcing things nearly as much this year and he’s gotten better at balancing his confidence and actual ability.

He still frequently gets lost in the Bulls’ already-flawed defensive system, but his on-ball defense has been decent.

On offense he looks less like the chucker he was in past seasons and he distributes the ball much better. 

This is not to say that Payne is somehow a revelation or that he’s a piece for the Bulls long-term. But it does give Chicago some ray of hope that their investment in him isn’t a complete loss.