Pistons 99, Bulls 85
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Brandon Knight had 20 points and five assists as the Detroit Pistons snapped an 18-game losing streak to the Chicago Bulls with a 99-85 victory at The Palace on Sunday.
Jonas Jerebko contributed 17 points and nine rebounds off the bench for the Pistons (26-52), who hadn't beaten the Bulls since the 2008-09 season. Rodney Stuckey chipped in 14 points and five assists as Detroit also won at home for the first time since Feb. 13, ending an eight-game slide.
Carlos Boozer led Chicago (42-34) with 21 points and 10 rebounds, his eighth double-double in 10 games. Nate Robinson added 18 points but the Bulls dropped two games behind Brooklyn for the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference.
Chicago's top defender, Joakim Noah, returned after an eight-game absence caused by plantar fasciitis in his right foot. Noah, who posted career highs of 30 points and 23 rebounds in his last visit to The Palace in December, had 13 points and seven rebounds.
Marco Belinelli played for the first time in eight games after recovering from an abdominal strain but didn't score in 19 minutes. Starting small forward Luol Deng sat out with a hip injury.
Knight scored 12 third-quarter points to lift the Pistons to a 75-67 lead. Knight's perimeter shooting was complemented later in the quarter by Greg Monroe's interior presence. He made a layup and hook shot, then fed Will Bynum with a bounce pass for another layup. Boozer helped his team stay in contact by scoring eight points in the quarter, including a last-second layup.
Jerebko's layup with 9:23 remaining bumped Detroit's lead to 79-67. His fast-break dunk off a Bynum steal made it 85-71 with 6:39 left. Another Jerebko dunk off a Chicago turnover gave his club a 91-78 lead with 2:47 to go.
The Pistons had a 22-8 advantage in bench points during the first half, which allowed them to take a 50-46 halftime lead. Jerebko and Charlie Villanueva combined for 15 of those points, as well as seven rebounds. Neither Noah nor Belinelli attempted a first-half field goal as they eased their way back into action.
NOTES: Detroit point guard Jose Calderon did not play for the second time in three games because of a right triceps strain. It's uncertain whether he will return this season. "What we're not going to do is yo-yo him back and forth," Pistons coach Lawrence Frank said. "We want to get it right before he comes back." ... The Bulls' Richard Hamilton missed his 19th straight game with a lower back injury and Taj Gibson sat out for the third consecutive game with a left knee strain. ... Detroit's last victory over Chicago was 104-98 on Dec. 23, 2008, when Rodney Stuckey scored 40 points. ... The Pistons were 10 games over .500 in early January of the 2008-09 season. They are 107 games under .500 since that point (124-231, .349). ... Chicago's Carlos Boozer was averaging 18.9 points and 11.9 rebounds over the past nine games entering Sunday. ... The Pistons' Kyle Singler had 64 3-pointers entering the game, third-most in franchise history by a rookie behind Brandon Knight (105) and Lindsay Hunter (69).
