Derrick Rose, Carlos Boozer star as Chicago Bulls defeat Detroit Pistons 99 – 83: NBA Recap Part 2
The third period brought some respite for the suffering Detroit Pistons fans as their team finally showed some signs of life. The Chicago Bulls had an early 6 – 0 burst but the Pistons recovered as the quarter progressed. They had an 11 – 3 run during the quarter in which they actually outscored the Bulls by 23 – 20. That though didn’t really further their cause too much because the score at the end was still 71 – 58 in Chicago’s favour.
With a 6 – 2 start to the final period Detroit threatened a comeback, but the Bulls soon put down any resistance with some polished offensive play. In a quarter when stops at the defensive end were required to reign in Chicago, the Pistons let slip 28 points. They themselves could muster only 25 and watched from a distance as the game petered to an end 99 – 83.
The Pistons have a young outfit and their inexperience showed against the battle hardened troops from Chicago. Detroit could improve, but they simply weren’t a match on the night for a Bulls team that is eyeing the NBA World Championship.
"I wish we had played a whole lot better, but they had a lot do with it. That's a very good team," Detroit coach Lawrence Frank said. "I'm not questioning effort. I'm concerned about execution on both ends of the floor. We had shots at the rim and shots in the paint that we didn't execute and turned into transition situations for them."
The Bulls had concerns of their own coming out of the game. Super star point guard Derrick Rose suffered a blow to the elbow late in the fourth quarter after an awkward landing. The player said he is fine but would use the little rest afforded by Chicago’s scheduling in the coming days.
"Just like any other time when you fall, you're definitely going to be sore," Rose said. "Thank God we don't play tomorrow and I can rest."
Rose’s 10 assists were a major reason for the smooth functioning of his Bulls team, 31 assists total, as compared to Detroit who had just 18 assists combined. The Bulls were also deadly from the field, connecting on a whopping 52.6 percent of all efforts and 41.7 percent from beyond the arc.
Detroit on the other hand were abysmal from downtown, making a horrible 16.7 percent of three-pointers attempted in the game. They were better from the field, but not close to Chicago’s output, with a 40.9 percent success rate.
Detroit know they have reasons to worry.
"I thought we played terrible," Pistons guard Ben Gordon said. "No disrespect to the Bulls - that's a good team - but we had a horrible effort."
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