Pistons Look to Improve on the Road Tonight in Chicago
By Tim Brokke
The Detroit Pistons look to improve their record to 2-0 against the Chicago Bulls on the season.
The Pistons will look to improve on their road record tonight in Chicago against the Bulls.
The Pistons won the first matchup of the season against the Bulls on October 30 at the Palace. The Pistons played a tough game that went back and forth, and eventually pulled out the win in overtime. Marcus Morris carried the team as he had 26 points and 7 rebounds on 10-15 shooting.
Inside Perspective
I was able to sit right beside the Bulls bench for the first meeting between these two teams, and I was amazed at the repeated mistakes the Bulls’ coaching staff made throughout the game. The Bulls new coach, Fred Hoiberg, looked like someone coaching his third NBA game ever.
The culmination of the coaching mistakes was mid-way through the 3rd quarter when the Bulls sent four players on the court out of a timeout, and the Pistons got a quick basket on the inbound before Tony Snell could race out onto the court to be the fifth man.
To be fair to Hoiberg, that was the infancy of his NBA coaching career, so there is no doubt he has grown mightily since that night.
Moving Forward
The Bulls have looked up and down throughout this season. But many of the struggles they have experienced has been on the road, as they are 11-3 at home on the season. They come into the game tonight having won their last four games, all of them at home. It will be a tough undertaking to beat this team on their home floor.
The Pistons have shown a lack of consistency on the road this season. Their most recent road game was a win, although it was against the Sixers. Hardly a juggernaut. The Pistons will have to enforce their will on the Bulls in order to win tonight’s game.
Key Questions to Consider
Can the Pistons dominate the rebounding battle again? A big part of why the Pistons beat the Bulls earlier this year is because of their dominance of the Bulls’ bigs on the boards. Andre Drummond ended up with one of his 20-20 games, which included nine offensive rebounds, which was one more than the Bulls’ eight.
Can the Pistons slow Jimmy Butler? Jimmy Butler has shown himself to be a bonafide star in this league. He consistently performs on both ends to the court, and seemingly never lets up. Caldwell-Pope will have his hands full trying to slow down the physically-daunting SG for the Bulls.
Can the bench hold their own? The Pistons bench has been showing signs of life lately, and Stan Van Gundy is one of the many who have noticed. Following Wednesday nights win against the Celtics, he said “Our bench is getting better. They’re getting more comfortable with each other.” That’s a good sign for a bench that has consistently been poor through the first third of this season. They will need to at least hold their own tonight in Chicago to give the Pistons a chance to win.
My Prediction
This team is so radically different than the team that was 5-22 at this point in the season last year. They fight every night, and give themselves a chance to win consistently. With all that said, Chicago is 11-3 at home and the Pistons are 5-8 on the road. The Pistons will hang in, but again come up short when the final buzzer sounds.
102-98 Bulls
What’s your prediction Piston fans?