Luol Deng scored 25 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as the Chicago Bulls staved off elimination in their second-round series with a convincing 102-87 home win over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday.
Kirk Hinrich and Ben Gordon had 19 points each, and ex-Piston Ben Wallace chipped in 11 points and 17 rebounds for the Bulls, who still face a daunting three games to one deficit in the best-of-seven series heading into Game 5 Tuesday night in Detroit.
The Bulls' Ben Wallace, right, stuffs the Pistons' Rasheed Wallace during Game 4 of their playoff series Sunday in Chicago.
(Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)
Chauncey Billups topped Detroit with 23 points and eight assists, while Tayshaun Prince added 18 points and Rasheed Wallace 14.
But defence was the downfall of the usually stout Pistons, who had prevented their last 22 playoff opponents from reaching triple digits.
The Pistons held a 42-39 edge with three minutes remaining in the third quarter before the Bulls went on an 11-1 run to seize a seven-point halftime lead.
The gap stretched to as many as 23 points late in the third quarter before the Pistons put a scare into Chicago by scoring the first seven points of the fourth as they doggedly chipped away at their deficit.
But Detroit never got closer than seven points, thanks largely to the efforts of Bulls rookie Tyrus Thomas, who scored seven of his 10 points in the fourth, and guard Ben Gordon, who hit a pair of three-pointers and was perfect on three free throws attempts in the final quarter.
Ben Wallace, a notorious bricklayer at the free-throw line, calmly sunk three of four attempts down the stretch as his former teammates tried to get the ball back by fouling him.
