The Detroit Pistons have served a 117-95 loss to the languishing Chicago Bulls to breathe a sliver of life into their playoff chances.
It was domination from the tipoff for the Detroit Pistons, who built their lead early in the first half and then refused to give it up throughout the second.
The win means the possibility of the Pistons chasing down the Milwaukee Bucks for the eight seed is still in play, albeit still a very outside chance of happening.
It’s obvious the Chicago Bulls are playing for the lottery at this point, which was emphasised by the fact that there weren’t any notable performances tonight outside of Denzel Valentine.
Valentine, the former Michigan State Spartan, put up 18 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.
However, outside of him, there wasn’t much to write home about for the Bulls.
On the other hand, the Pistons had a number of standout performers.
The most notable was Anthony Tolliver, who dropped 25 points and 6 rebounds, as well as a career-high six made three-pointers.
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Tolliver was scoring at will and it was hard to believe he’s 32 years old at some stages.
Andre Drummond was his usual dominant self, this time finishing with a stat sheet stuffing line of 15 points, 20 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 4 blocks.
Drummond has been enjoying an incredible season and it looks like it’s going to carry right through to the end of the Pistons’ year, whenever that happens to be.
Perhaps the most pleasing part of his game against the Bulls was the emergence of his jump shot.
He hit two very convincing jumpers in what could be an enticing precursor of what’s to come.
If Drummond is able to develop a consistent jump shot then his game has the potential to go from dominant to near impossible to stop.
Reggie Jackson continued to work his way back into form after his long stay on the sidelines.
His passing wasn’t a feature tonight, ending the game with no assists and 2 turnovers, but his scoring ability was on display.
He shot at 50 percent on his way to scoring 15 points in 22 minutes of action, including a couple of threes.
Jackson is mot likely going to be a work in progress until the end of the season, but seeing glimpses of what he can do with this revamped Pistons team is enough to give fans hope for the future.
Other key contributors on the night included Reggie Bullock (14 points), Luke Kennard (13 points, 3 rebounds 6 assists), James Ennis (13 points, 3 rebounds) and Ish Smith (12 points, 7 assists).
Bench coming up big! #PistonsNow pic.twitter.com/QnIHRaEY5Q
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) March 25, 2018
Coach Stan Van Gundy would also be pleased with the way the team was able to put together a dominant performance without Blake Griffin having a monstrous game.
Griffin was still a presence, putting up 10 points, 4 rebounds and 9 assists in his 26 minutes, but the fact that he didn’t need to take over the scoring or post a triple-double for the Pistons to get a win is pleasing.
If the Pistons are able to get an even spread of contributors like this most games then they become a much harder and unpredictable team to play against.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t all positivity for the night.
#Pistons' Stanley Johnson is out the rest of the game with a right gluteal strain, per team.
— James L. Edwards III (@JLEdwardsIII) March 25, 2018
Stanley Johnson sustained a glute injury and did not make an appearance on the court after halftime.
It’s currently unclear how serious the injury is, but hopefully it isn’t something that forces him to spend significant time on the sideline.
The Pistons have now won three of their last four games and will continue their homestand against the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night.