Bulls 88, Pistons 82
Pau Gasol had 26 points and 10 rebounds for his league-leading 50th double-double and host Chicago took over sole possession of third place in the Eastern Conference.
Jimmy Butler added 18 points for the Bulls, who took advantage of a loss by the Toronto Raptors minutes before their win to move a game ahead in the standings. Nikola Mirotic added 11 points and fellow reserve Taj Gibson finished with 10 points and nine rebounds for Chicago.
Reggie Jackson scored 12 of his 22 points in the first quarter and distributed nine assists to lead the Pistons. Andre Drummond added 14 points, 22 rebounds and matched his career high with six blocks and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope also scored 14 for Detroit.
Aaron Brooks made a 3-pointer out of a timeout to put the Bulls back in front 81-78 with 1:39 remaining and Brooks came back with another basket on the next possession to stretch the lead to five with 1:15 on the clock. Drummond scored four straight points to pull the Pistons back within one with 30 seconds remaining, but a three-point play by Gasol with five seconds left sealed the win.
The Bulls led by as many as 16 early in the second half before Anthony Tolliver, Caldwell-Pope and Caron Butler made 3-pointers in a 13-0 run that pulled Detroit within three with 6:35 still left in the third quarter, and the Pistons eventually tied the score at 59 entering the fourth. The Bulls then got a nice lift from their bench players and stretched the lead back out to nine, but the Pistons made another push, tying the score at 78 on Caldwell-Pope’s layup with 2:26 left in the game.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Pistons had eight of their season-high 12 blocked shots in the first half. … The Bulls played without backup G Kirk Hinrich, who suffered a hyperextended left knee in Wednesday’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, while the Pistons were without starting F Greg Monroe (knee) and backup G Spencer Dinwiddie (ankle). … The Pistons recorded season-low points totals of nine in the second quarter and 35 in the first half.