The Pistons led by 24 barely two minutes into the second quarter en route to another surprisingly easy victory over the Bulls, 108-87, to take a 2-0 series lead. Detroit jumped out to an 8-0 lead and led by 16 by the end of the first quarter, 34-18, on 63.6 percent shooting.

“I’ve seen an intensity in the locker room that is higher than I would have ever expected and I’m glad we have that edge,” said Chris Webber, who had 10 first-quarter points and despite foul trouble finished with 22 on 10-of-11 shooting. “I see it becoming more intense every game. You’re surprised it’s (a blowouts) in the playoff games but I’m not surprised at our effort because we want this.”

Chauncey Billups, Detroit’s offensive instigator in Game 1, struck hardest to open the second quarter with back-to-back triples. Two Richard Hamilton free throws later, the Pistons led by 24 points only two minutes into the second quarter, 42-18. Billups and Hamilton also got the best of their younger Bulls counterparts all night long. Ben Gordon had 13 points on 3-of-7 shooting, while Kirk Hinrich finished 0-for-7 from the field - after a 6-of-7 performance in Game 1 - and tallied only two points, six rebounds and seven assists.

“Those two guys are the head of their team as far as offense goes and the way they play. If you do a good job on them you usually are going to have success,” Billups said. “We’ve done that with a lot of different schemes and hopefully we can continue to be effective.”

For the Bulls, Game 2 was more than déjà vu; it was a recurring nightmare, right down to a repeat of the franchise playoff-record low 23 field goals they set in Game 1. After the second-worst playoff shooting performance in team history (32.9 percent), the Bulls were only marginally better in the first half - 36.4 percent (12-of-33). It was all downhill from there, bottoming out at 34.3 percent (23-of-67).

The Pistons also were getting the boards - 51 total rebounds to Chicago’s 31. Ben Wallace’s seven rebounds were a team-high for the Bulls, but Detroit had six players with that many, led by nine from Hamilton and eight from Jason Maxiell.

With Rasheed Wallace and Webber both catching their fourth fouls within 78 seconds of each other early in the third quarter, the Pistons’ had to rely on their ball movement to keep the offense flowing, and it usually flowed to Tayshaun Prince. He scored 11 points in the quarter on 4-of-9 from the field, including two triples. Prince and Hamilton scored Detroit’s last 12 points of the quarter, six apiece, as the lead jumped back to 23 points, 83-60, after three quarters.

“I got a couple of shots to fall for me and once they were going I just kind of moved around a little bit,” Prince said. “When you get to the foul line and get a couple of shots to fall in the first quarter then you get in a good rhythm.”

The Bulls opened the fourth with an 8-0 run, all by rookie Tyrus Thomas, but 83-70 was as close as Chicago would come. Six straight points from Webber, a dunk from Wallace and a 3-pointer by Billups after a Hamilton steal put the Pistons ahead 98-80 with 6:17 left, stirring the crowd into another fourth-quarter frenzy. It is a scene the Pistons faithful has become accustomed to during the Pistons’ 4-0 home start to the playoffs. The Pistons are now one victory away from tying the 1988-89 Pistons’ team record of seven wins to open a postseason.

“It has been great,” Billups said. “We came into this playoff with an unbelievable focus and determination knowing how long our summer was last summer and knowing that there were a couple of patches or stretches where we weren’t as focused as we could have been. And knowing that we don’t want to make the same mistake, we’re just focusing on every single game for what it is.

“Game 3 is a whole different game then Game 2 and Game 1, and we know that. We’ve got to establish early in the game and play it one game at a time.”

If this is to become the long series most expected, the Bulls will have make it happen at the United Center, where they beat the Pistons twice in the regular season. The Pistons leave Detroit having trailed for a total of 17 seconds in the first two games.

“I guess the thing that’s most surprising is the games just haven’t been very competitive,” said Bulls coach Scott Skiles. “They’ve kind of right after the jump ball owned us all over the floor so we’ve got to go back now and regroup and try to something done at home.”

Catch exclusive postgame video content of the Pistons’ Game 2 rout Tuesday morning on Playoff Central