It appears as though the Bulls are trying desperately to not make the playoffs. If that’s the case, the Pistons should roll through the Windy City, increasing their lead for one of the final postseason berths in the Eastern Conference. But don’t count the Bulls out just yet, they’ve surprised us all season and won consecutive road games for the first time in over two months.
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SCHEDULING
Going on the road for the first time in three weeks and a span of nine games, the Pistons begin a three-game trip in Chicago with the second of a back-to-back. Detroit hasn’t played a road game since Mar. 14 when it was clobbered in Washington 124-81. The Pistons won six of the first eight games on their mega-homestand to climb into a playoff spot at seventh in the East, slightly ahead of Indiana with the Bulls lurking a few games back. Detroit had been 6-0 SU and ATS in the second game of a back-to-back prior to losing last weekend to Atlanta. Overall the Pistons are 9-8 SU and 10-7 ATS in those games.
The Bulls play at the UC for the only time in stretch of six games when they host the Pistons on Saturday. Chicago completed a sweep of its two-game trip Thursday in Houston and hits the road Sunday in Milwaukee to start a three-game trek. This is a big game for the Bulls, not only because it’s on their own floor, but also because they are trying to chase down the Pistons for one of the two remaining playoff spots in the Eastern Conference.
INJURIES
Neither side has the luxury of resting key players as they battle for playoff positioning down the stretch, so we can eliminate that from the equation.
Detroit is relatively healthy heading into the final two weeks, a good sign for a team looking to end a six-year playoff drought.
Taj Gibson’s ailing ribs finally pushed enough for him to miss the second half of Tuesday’s game. Also, Derrick Rose seemed to be bothered by his left elbow, wearing a sleeve at the start of the game then being hit on it early in the first quarter. Both players are day-to-day.
KEY MATCHUP
The play of Andre Drummond over the past several weeks has fueled Detroit’s charge to a playoff spot. the Pistons’ big man registered his fifth consecutive double-double with 13 points and 15 rebounds in a win over Oklahoma City on Tuesday, and is averaging 16.8 points and 14.1 rebounds per game over his last 10, but the uptick is his efficient shooting percentage of nearly 59. After a midseason switch in shooting coaches, Drummond has shown improvement at the free-throw line, too. He’s shooting 43.4 percent from the stripe over his past 11 games, lifting his season percentage to 36.1. Drummond was massive in Detroit’s epic 147-144 quadruple overtime win over the Bulls on Dec. 18, going for 33 points on 14 of 25 shooting, and 21 boards. The only thing that stopped him that night was six fouls.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
The Bulls always seem to surprise us. A tantalizing three-game win streak about two weeks ago had them ready to make a move in the East. Then came back-to-back losses to the Knicks to start a four-game slide moving them further down and out of the NBA playoff picture. Just when we’re ready to stick a fork in them, they pull out road wins over Indiana and Houston to rekindle postseason talk. Now come reports that a number of players have lost faith in coach Fred Hoiberg, and that can’t be good for a team trying to work its way back into the playoff picture.
Detroit 113, Chicago 106
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