The Bulls got their first taste of life with Zach LaVine and liked what they saw.LaVine scored 14 points in his first game in 11 months, rookie Lauri Marrkanen added 19 points and the Bulls beat the Detroit Pistons 107-105 on Saturday night.The Bulls made 17 3-pointers and held off several late charges by the Pistons to win for the 13th time in their last 20 games.
LaVine was making his Bulls debut after being acquired from Minnesota in the Jimmy Butler trade. LaVine, who last season averaged 18.9 points in 47 contests, hadn’t played since he suffered a torn ACL against Detroit on Feb. 3.
”It actually felt really good,” LaVine said. ”It wasn’t that fast paced. I was tired, but it wasn’t that fast. I was relaxed.”
Avery Bradley scored 26 points and Andre Drummond had 21 and 15 rebounds for Detroit, which lost its sixth road game in seven tries.Coming off a career-high, 33-point effort on Wednesday, Markkanen hit a 17-foot shot with 1:08 to go to give the Bulls a 106-105 lead. The game featured 23 lead changes and seven ties.The Bulls then survived four late shot attempts by Detroit, including a missed layup by Drummond with 38 seconds left.
”We just didn’t close,” Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said. ”In the first half, we just didn’t close. Our guys are not closing out. Period.”
It was the second straight close victory for the Bulls after an overtime win at New York on Wednesday.
”It means a lot and it’s especially nice to have Zach back,” Markkanen said. ”Just to see how he moves and how quick he is, how well he can shoot the ball. All around he’s a great player and he’s going to bring a lot to the team.”
With LaVine on the court, the Bulls reached 100 points for the 17th time in 20 games after reaching the mark only eight times in their first 23 contests.LaVine made his first shot, a 27-footer from the right of the key, before he assisted Robin Lopez’s basket inside. The fourth-year guard followed with an easy 15-footer at the 8:12 mark in the first quarter to give the Bulls an early 12-11 lead. LaVine made 5 of 9 shots and finished with two assists.
”(LaVine is) a very smooth player and has a lot of confidence to rise up on his first shot and knock down a 3,” Fred Hoiberg said. ”(That) shows you that he’s just been itching for this moment to get out there and back on the floor with his teammates.”
Kris Dunn had 18 points, eight assists and eight rebounds for the Blackhawsks. Dunn also was credited with a blocked shot on Reggie Bullock’s attempted layup at the buzzer.Nikola Mirotic had 16 points and six rebounds off the bench and Bobby Portis scored 15 in the win.Eight of Drummond’s 15 rebounds were on the offensive end, which helped Detroit to a 30-6 advantage in second-chance points.