Bulls Beat Piston, Celtics Down Pacers

Print

Published on March 23 2017 6:25 am
Last Updated on March 23 2017 6:25 am

By ESPN

Out of the rotation at times and with his contract set to expire, Nikola Mirotic understands what's at stake for him as the season winds down.

Games like this certainly don't hurt.

Mirotic scored a season-high 28 points, and the Chicago Bulls beat the Detroit Pistons 117-95 in a matchup between struggling teams fighting for a playoff spot on Wednesday night.

Mirotic shot 12 of 15 and made 4 of 6 3-point attempts to lead Chicago to an easy win after dropping eight of 10. He's set to become a restricted free agent, meaning his future is in question.

"I just want to prove those guys who trusted me -- the Chicago Bulls," he said. "They ... gave me a chance. I was a first-round pick in 2011. I want to play well here."

Jimmy Butler added 16 points and 12 assists. Joffrey Lauvergne filled in for suspended center Robin Lopez and outplayed Andre Drummond with 17 points and seven rebounds. Rookie Paul Zipser added a career-high 15 points as the Bulls moved into a ninth-place tie with Detroit in the Eastern Conference.

Tobias Harris and Marcus Morris each scored 14 for the Pistons, losers of five of six. Drummond grabbed 17 rebounds but scored just eight points on 4-of-12 shooting.

"It starts with me," Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said. "I'm the person in charge. I selected everybody in that locker room. I decide who plays. I put lineups out there, you know. I decide on defensive coverages. I call plays. So it's all on me. I'm not running from that. We've got to try to find a way to get (the players) back."

The Bulls honored late general manager Jerry Krause with a moment of silence before the game. A Chicago native who oversaw a dynasty that produced two championship three-peats in the 1990s, he died at age 77 on Tuesday.

The Bulls saw a 13-point lead shrink to two with about a minute left in the second quarter. But layups by Lauvergne and Mirotic sent Chicago to the locker room up by six. They also started a 19-2 run that made it 74-55 in the third, essentially putting away this game.

"We are trying to stay together," Mirotic said. "After a tough loss (at Toronto on Tuesday night), we came here in the mindset to play like a team because there is no more time to blow chances like that. We need to win the rest of our games."


Celtics 109, Pacers 100

The Boston Celtics just needed a little reminder to focus on playing instead of worrying about where they were in the Eastern Conference playoff chase.

A loss on Sunday was perfect for that.

Isaiah Thomas scored 25 points, Avery Bradley had 18 with eight rebounds and the Celtics beat the Indiana Pacers 109-100 on Wednesday night for their fifth win in six games.

The only loss came on the road against a weaker Philadelphia team.

"I think last week all we did was look at the standings," Bradley said. "We were losing games. We weren't focused. We came together as a group and we were like: `We can't worry about where we are. Let's worry about (that) when the time is right."

The Celtics remained 2 1/2 games ahead of Washington for second place in the East and are one game behind top-seeded Cleveland.

Al Horford added 15 points with eight boards and eight assists, and Jae Crowder also scored 15 points for Boston, which won for the 12th time in 13 home games.

Paul George led the Pacers with 37 points and Jeff Teague had 25. Indiana has alternated by winning and losing in its last 15 games.

The Celtics turned a red-hot shooting third quarter into 39 points, pushing a seven-point halftime lead to 14 after three quarters.

"We expected this team to come out the second half more aggressive and raise their play," Pacers coach Nate McMillan said. "We needed to do the same thing. We just weren't able to do it."

Boston hit 17 of 25 shots from the field, with Marcus Smart's last-second bank shot in the lane capping the shooting. He was fouled on the play and made the free throw, giving the Celtics an 88-74 lead entering the final quarter.

"I thought the end of the third, early fourth, some of our ball movement possessions were about as good as we've had in a while," Boston coach Brad Stevens said.

Thomas hit two 3-pointers and scored 11 points in the third.

George kept the Pacers in the game, though, scoring 14 in the quarter.

"They started getting away from us and I tried to keep the game as close as possible," he said.

Trailing by 17 early in the fourth, the Pacers went on a 13-2 run to slice it to 95-89 on Teague's 3-pointer.

Thomas then sandwiched a couple of breakaway layups around a turnaround by Horford to seal it.


Wednesday, March 22 Scoreboard

Charlotte 109, Orlando 102

Boston 109, Indiana 100

Chicago 117, Detroit 95

Oklahoma City 122, Philadelphia 97

Washington 104, Atlanta 100

Denver 126, Cleveland 113

Milwaukee 116, Sacramento 98

Utah 108, New York 101


Thursday, March 23 Schedule (All Times Central)

Phoenix at Brooklyn, 6:30 p.m.

Toronto at Miami, 6:30 p.m.

Los Angeles Clippers at Dallas, 7:30 p.m.

Memphis at San Antonio, 7:30 p.m.

New York at Portland, 9 p.m.


Friday, March 24 Schedule (All Times Central)

Brooklyn at Washington, 6 p.m.

Cleveland at Charlotte, 6 p.m.

Detroit at Orlando, 6 p.m.

Denver at Indiana, 6 p.m.

Phoenix at Boston, 6:30 p.m.

Philadelphia at Chicago, 7 p.m.

Atlanta at Milwaukee, 7 p.m.

New Orleans at Houston, 7 p.m.

Minnesota at Los Angeles Lakers, 9:30 p.m.

Sacramento at Golden State, 9:30 p.m.


Saturday, March 25 Schedule (All Times Central)

Utah at Los Angeles Clippers, 2:30 p.m.

Washington at Cleveland, 6:30 p.m.

Toronto at Dallas, 7:30 p.m.

New York at San Antonio, 7:30 p.m.

Minnesota at Portland, 9 p.m.


Sunday, March 26 Schedule (All Times Central)

Phoenix at Charlotte, noon

Brooklyn at Atlanta, noon

Sacramento at Los Angeles Clippers, 2:30 p.m.

Chicago at Milwaukee, 2:30 p.m.

Oklahoma City at Houston, 2:30 p.m.

Philadelphia at Indiana, 5 p.m.

Miami at Boston, 5 p.m.

Memphis at Golden State, 7 p.m.

New Orleans at Denver, 7 p.m.

Portland at Los Angeles Lakers, 8:30 p.m.