Sights and Sounds from Chicago Bulls’ 108-99 win over Detroit Pistons
The Chicago Bulls snapped a six-game losing streak Saturday night when they took to Little Caesars Arena to face the Detroit Pistons.
It’s time to take a look at the sights and sounds as generated by the game-day highlights from the Chicago Bulls‘ win over the Detroit Pistons.
In case you missed it, the Bulls handled business when they faced the Pistons for the fourth and final time this season.
This shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone. It’s no secret the way the Pistons have become a bit undermanned. Missing in action from Saturday night’s game most notably was Blake Griffin, Luke Kennard and Reggie Jackson.
The Bulls were favored by many to win the game. It helps the odds knowing how well the Bulls have performed in every meeting with the Pistons this season.
The problem is, it didn’t always appear the Bulls would hold on to to beat the Pistons. To be fair, the Bulls were missing a few key players from their rotation with Otto Porter Jr. and Wendell Carter Jr. both sidelined due to injury.
The good news is, the Bulls found a way to snap a six-game losing steak. It’s merely a bonus that they held their ground against a team they should beat.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the sights and sounds derived from the game-day highlights.
#FreeKornet?
You read that, right?
#FreeKornet
Give me more of that. After finding his minutes slashed until recently with the emergence of rookie Daniel Gafford, big man Luke Kornet appeared to be doing a lot of little things well when given the opportunity. Kornet has faced a bit of criticism for his play in the past, which resulted in him receiving less floor time. As it’s been dubbed by many, Saturday night’s game was clearly and accurately captioned the “Luke Kornet Game.”
Take a look:
NBA Twitter was all aboard the “Luke Kornet Train.”
Here’s what people had to say.
Jason Patt, editor of Clutch Points, made his thoughts clear, saying that Kornet appeared to be dominating the game. At the same time, he threw a bit of shade toward the Pistons for allowing it to happen.
Chuck Swirsky, a radio announcer for the Chicago Bulls, shared his view, saying that Kornet was the biggest storyline early on out of the Bulls-Pistons game.
Kornet wasn’t the only Bull creating a bit of buzz, so was point guard Kris Dunn.
Mark Strotman, formerly of NBC Sports Chicago, shared a tweet, expressing his thoughts of the playmaking displayed between Kornet and Dunn.
Not everyone was trending on Twitter for good reasons. Pistons big man Andre Drummond got ejected from the game. For what, you ask? In case you missed it, take a look:
https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1216172830070624258
It remains unclear why Drummond struck Gafford the way he did with the ball.
Could it be Gafford getting into Drummond’s head?
For what it’s worth, it doesn’t matter. It proved to give the Bulls an added advantage. The Pistons were doomed the moment Drummond got tossed out of the game by those officiating.
Several took to Twitter to sound-off on Drummond’s early exit.
Check it out:
Keith Smith, a contributor of Yahoo Sports NBA, provided some input, saying the absence of Drummond is something the Pistons may have to get used to sooner rather than later.
There’s a lot of talk around the league of the Pistons looking to hit the reset button in recent weeks after losing big man Blake Griffin to what media reports show is a likely a season-ending injury.
The Bulls led the Pistons 61-49 by the end of the first half.
Among the highlights from the second half was seeing Gafford taking advantage of the Pistons and the way they turned to smaller lineups in the absence of Drummond.
Check it out:
Without a big man to be reckoned with in the middle of the floor, the Bulls had a field day from the inside paint scoring 60 points. The Pistons were outscored in the regard as they only had 48 points in the paint.
Also benefitting from Drummond’s early exit was Bulls big man Lauri Markkanen. He remained aggressive when the team needed him in the second half.
Take a look:
When he’s involved offensively, good things tend to happen for Markkanen at the other end, as well. This appears to have been case when the Bulls faced the Pistons. Markkanen helped clean the glass by grabbing 7 rebounds, of which 2 allowed the Bulls to maintain possession of the ball.
By the sound of the final buzzer, the Bulls closed out the game beating the Pistons 108-99.
Next up, the Bulls will go to Boston to face the Celtics. The game starts Monday at 6:30 p.m. CST.