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((Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images)

Pistons let it slip away as Bulls open third on 17-0 run

FAST BREAKDOWN

Three quick observations from Tuesday night’s 133-87 loss to the Chicago Bulls at United Center

OVER IN A BLINK – The Pistons carried their momentum from Monday’s comeback from 22 down to rock Utah into Chicago … for a minute, at least. The Pistons opened forcefully and led 22-14 eight minutes into the game. But the first sign of trouble was the six first-quarter turnovers, most of them on ill-advised passes the Bulls turned into easy scoring chances. Chicago took the lead early in the second quarter, but it was still a manageable nine-point deficit at halftime. It got unmanageable in a hurry when Chicago scored the first 17 points of the third quarter to lead by 26 before Cade Cunningham ended the drought a little more than four minutes into the half. The Pistons didn’t have any punch left in them after that. Their deficit swelled to 40 midway through the fourth quarter and Dwane Casey used the situation to experiment a little, pairing Isaiah Stewart and Luka Garza in the lineup for a few minutes. Cory Joseph, a player Casey often turns to when turnovers disrupt offensive flow, missed the game with a left knee contusion suffered amid his 16-point contribution on 4 of 4 3-point shooting in the Monday win over Utah. It was the 12th loss in franchise history by 40 or more points.

ADVANTAGE, BULLS – Tuesday’s game was the makeup from a game originally scheduled for Dec. 14, postponed when the Bulls experienced one of the NBA’s first team-wide COVID-19 outbreaks and didn’t have enough to field a lineup. The delay wound up working to Chicago’s advantage, mostly because it resulted in a back to back for the Pistons. Not only did they have to expend a ton of energy to come back from a 22-point deficit in beating Utah, they also had to travel to Chicago and play a Bulls team that was off Monday night. The Pistons also caught the Bulls at full strength and in the midst of a hot streak. Chicago lost on Sunday to Dallas in its most recent game, but that snapped a nine-game wining streak for a Bulls team that held a two-game lead over Brooklyn for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference at tipoff on Tuesday. The Bulls also took a 7-0 record in games against opponents on the second night of a back to back into Tuesday’s game, the best record in the league in those situations.

GOING BOL-ING – Dwane Casey said he anticipates overseeing Bol Bol work out on Wednesday at the Pistons Performance Center and that will help determine whether Bol will make his Pistons debut when they host Toronto on Friday. Bol, acquired in a Monday deal that sent Rodney McGruder to Denver, hasn’t played since Jan. 5 and hasn’t played more than six minutes since logging 20 in a Jan. 1 win over Houston. Bol would give a thin Pistons frontcourt a boost as they endure the prolonged injury absences of both Kelly Olynyk and Jerami Grant. Bol, 22, gives the Pistons the size and rim protection they don’t possess in abundance at 7-foot-2 with a 7-foot-7 wingspan. “I’ve watched him from afar. Don’t know him that well,” Casey said Tuesday. “He’s a big-time skill guy. He can pas it, shoot it, 7-2 – those are things I like about him. His passing and his length. Hopefully, we can get him to protect the rim with Isaiah, but his shooting is a skill. Twenty-two years old – it fits our timeline. I’m excited to see where he is.”