Bulls show up in Detroit with some attitude and fight and beat Pistons

DETROIT — There was fight from the Bulls.

No, really, with just over a minute left in the first quarter Monday night at Little Caesers Arena, Pistons center Isaiah Stewart and Bulls reserve guard Dalen Terry got tangled up on a rebound, then got tangled up with each other. Terry tried to go after the 6-8, 250-pounder before teammate Jalen Smith grabbed him and calmed him down.

It was a much different attitude than the Bulls exhibited a night earlier, when they allowed the Rockets to waltz into the United Center and give them a humiliating beatdown.

On Monday, that attitude, combined with more physicality, better communication on defense and diving for loose balls, added up to a 122-112 win. Center Nikola Vucevic led the Bulls (6-9) with a game-high 29 points and 12 rebounds, including a ridiculous 6-for-8 from three-point range.

Such an effort against the Pistons (7-9) wasn't a huge surprise, with Vucevic and many of the Bulls still simmering after their embarrassing performance Sunday.

"It was a little bit of that Houston game, but also me being the oldest guy on the team," Vucevic said. "I spoke to [assistant coach] Wes [Unseld Jr.] before the game, asking him anything defensively I can do to help the team — something I'm not doing well — and he just told me whatever I do, be aggressive with it. I got it going early, especially with the threes. That helped a lot."

Guard Zach LaVine hit six of his seven three-pointers in the fourth quarter to quash any ideas of a Pistons comeback.

Coach Billy Donovan appreciated all of it, calling it a team effort. But he was most proud of the new aggressiveness, even if Terry took it over the line.