Carlos Boozer scored 23 points and the Bulls beat Detroit 92-68 on Monday night for their 13th consecutive victory against the Pistons.Derrick Rose added 22 points and eight assists as the Bulls which bounced back from Saturday night’s lackluster 109-94 loss at Atlanta. Ronnie Brewer finished with 12 points, and Boozer also had eight rebounds.The Bulls improved to 4-1 during their first stretch of nine games in 12 days in 30 years. They play again each of the next two nights, hitting the road to face Minnesota on Tuesday before returning home to face Washington on Wednesday.Greg Monroe had 14 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for Detroit, which has lost four straight games. Rookie Brandon Knight scored 13 points, and Tayshaun Prince and Ben Gordon had 11 points apiece.The Pistons’ last victory over the Bulls was a 95-87 decision at the Palace on Dec. 23, 2008. Detroit also is winless in its last 11 games at the United Center.The Bulls led 68-59 after three and put the game away with an 18-3 run to begin the fourth quarter. Rose had a jumper and an emphatic dunk during the surge.The big fourth-quarter run led to chants for seldom-used reserve Brian Scalabrine from the United Center crowd. He entered with 2:43 left and his fadeaway jumper with 14.6 seconds remaining led to wild ovation and delighted the Bulls’ bench.Detroit closed the first quarter with a 9-0 run to tie it at 21, but the Bulls responded with a 9-0 run of their own. Kyle Korver capped the surge with a 3-pointer after Pistons forward Jonas Jerebko left him open on the wing.The Bulls were upset with their non-defense during the loss at Atlanta, but held Detroit scoreless for the first 5:52 of the second. The Pistons missed their first eight shots of the quarter.The Bulls led by as many as 11 in the first half and it could have been more. Brewer missed an easy putback with 26.9 seconds left and Prince scored on a running layup to trim the lead to 43-34 at the break.The Pistons were without guard Rodney Stuckey (sore groin) and forward Charlie Villanueva (sore right ankle). Stuckey and Villanueva have missed three consecutive games and are day to day.
“Every team has a lot of games and that’s just the reality,” Pistons coach Lawrence Frank said, referring to the truncated schedule stemming from the long NBA lockout. “That’s the reason why guys are getting hurt. There’s a lot of games in a short of time, without the same previous training practices. It happened in the NFL and it happened here. It is what it is.”
The Bulls were still without C.J. Watson, who has a strained left elbow, and former Pistons star Richard Hamilton, who was sidelined again with a sore left groin. The 6-foot-7 Hamilton, the Bulls’ biggest offseason acquisition, has played in just one of the last six games — the road win over the Pistons.
NOTES—F Austin Daye returned to the court after missing Detroit’s previous game with a right ankle injury. …The Bulls are 5-0 this season in the opener of back-to-back contests. … The last time the Bulls played nine games in 12 days was Jan. 26-Feb. 6, 1972. They went 6-3 in that stretch.