Detroit's Third-Quarter Blitz Sinks Bulls 126-110, Extending Chicago's Losing Streak to Eight

Jalen Duren scored 26 points on 12-of-20 shooting and hauled in 13 rebounds while Cade Cunningham orchestrated the offense with 18 points and 13 assists as the Detroit Pistons pulled away with a dominant third quarter to defeat the Chicago Bulls 126-110 on Saturday night at the United Center. Tobias Harris added 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting with four steals, and Duncan Robinson knocked down five three-pointers for 17 points as Detroit, playing without Isaiah Stewart — suspended by the league — improved to 42-13 and won its fifth consecutive game.

Chicago fell to 24-33 with its eighth straight loss, its longest losing streak since a nine-game skid in January 2024. Head coach Billy Donovan, returning to the sideline after the passing of his father during the All-Star break, watched Josh Giddey deliver his best offensive performance as a Bull — 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting with five three-pointers in 27 minutes. But Giddey's big night was drowned out by the same problems that have plagued this team for nearly a month — 23 turnovers, an inability to protect the paint, and a third quarter that turned a close game into a blowout.

A Third-Quarter Collapse Turns a Close Game Into a Rout

For one quarter, the United Center crowd had reason to believe. Chicago kept pace with the Pistons in a competitive first period, outscoring Detroit 30-28 behind nine first-quarter points from Giddey to take a two-point lead into the second. The game tightened again midway through the second quarter before Detroit finished the half on a surge, carrying a 53-50 lead into the locker room. It was an encouraging sign for a Bulls team that has been blown out repeatedly during this losing streak — but it didn't last.

The third quarter was a catastrophe. Detroit outscored Chicago 44-26 over those 12 minutes, turning a three-point halftime deficit into a 21-point lead by the end of the period. Duren was at the center of it, operating with complete freedom in the paint as the Pistons exploited a Chicago defense that had no answer for his combination of size and touch around the basket. By the time the fourth quarter arrived, the game was effectively over. Detroit led for 82% of the contest and built a lead as large as 28 points, and a 34-29 Chicago fourth quarter was little more than cosmetic. The paint was the decisive battleground: Detroit scored 68 points in the paint compared to just 38 for Chicago — a 30-point disparity that, combined with 28 Pistons points off Chicago's 23 turnovers, made the final margin look closer than the game actually felt.

Giddey Erupts, But the Turnovers and Paint Problems Follow

If there was a silver lining Saturday night, it came in the form of Giddey, who put together his most complete offensive game as a Bull. The 23-year-old Australian finished with 27 points on 10-of-16 from the field and 5-of-8 from three-point range in 27 minutes, showing the kind of shot-making and playmaking ability that Chicago acquired him to provide. It was a promising performance from a player who has taken time to find his footing since arriving via trade, and it offered at least a glimpse of what this offense can look like when Giddey is locked in. The rest of the starters contributed — Matas Buzelis, Jalen Smith, and Isaac Okoro each finished with 15 points — but none had the individual rhythm that Giddey found, and the collective effort was undone by four turnovers from Buzelis, five from Giddey himself, and five from Nick Richards off the bench, adding up to 23 as a team.

Guerschon Yabusele had another quietly impactful night, finishing with 12 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists in 24 minutes — a well-rounded line that illustrates how much he has settled into his role as a connector in this offense. Tre Jones continued to provide stability in the backcourt with six assists and just one turnover in 26 minutes, and Jalen Smith showed his efficiency by scoring 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting. Jaden Ivey did not play Saturday, and the Bulls officially announced a shutdown of at least two weeks for the guard to address lingering knee soreness. Donovan confirmed it was a medical and coaching-staff decision, noting that team doctors had scheduled an evaluation of Ivey's knee and determined that reducing the soreness and building strength in the surrounding muscles needed to be the immediate priority before a reevaluation. Whether Ivey suits up again this season remains an open question. The broader concern, though, wasn't any individual absence — it was the paint. Chicago has now been outscored in the paint in game after game during this losing streak, and Detroit exposed that vulnerability more severely than any opponent in recent memory. Worth noting: Duren was making his return from a two-game suspension stemming from a February 9 altercation against the Hornets — and he made his presence felt immediately. His 12-of-20 effort inside, combined with Ausar Thompson's relentless cutting and Cunningham's ability to find the open big, made the Pistons' interior attack essentially unstoppable for long stretches. Chicago's 13 blocks were an impressive number on paper, but they couldn't prevent 68 paint points from a Detroit team that attacked the basket with purpose on every possession.

Looking Ahead

The Bulls stay home Sunday to face the New York Knicks at the United Center at 7:00 p.m. CT. New York presents another stiff challenge for a Chicago team that hasn't won in nearly three weeks, and the homestand that was supposed to offer a chance for this new-look roster to find its footing has instead produced back-to-back losses to open it. Saturday also brought another piece of unwelcome roster news: the Bulls announced that Zach Collins will miss the rest of the season after doctors determined his toe injury requires surgery. The oft-injured big man appeared in just 10 games this season. Donovan expressed hope that Collins could return to the organization, noting that when healthy, he is a valuable player — but the financial and medical realities of the situation remain to be worked out this summer. Combined with the Ivey shutdown, Chicago is navigating a significant portion of its frontcourt and backcourt depth at a time when it can least afford to. At 24-33 and eight games into a losing streak that shows no sign of ending, the evaluation process has become the primary focus — which pieces of this overhauled roster can be counted on, and which roles make sense as the season winds toward April.

Detroit, meanwhile, heads home to face the San Antonio Spurs on Monday at 6:00 p.m. CT on Peacock. The Pistons, who won this game comfortably even without Stewart and are now 29 games above .500, have established themselves as one of the elite teams in the Eastern Conference. Cunningham's 13-assist, zero-turnover, plus-28 night was a reminder of how complete a player he has become as the centerpiece of this franchise. For Chicago, Saturday's loss to a Pistons team that was missing a key rotation piece offered little comfort — only further confirmation that the gap between where this roster is and where it needs to be remains significant, and that the work of building something sustainable is still very much in its early stages.