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Wednesday, Dec. 29 8:30pm ET
29 turnovers doom Bulls to defeat | |||||
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 GAME FLOW
CHICAGO (AP) -- Another night, another way for the Chicago Bulls to lose a game. Jerry Stackhouse scored 23 points, Grant Hill finished with 20 and a rare technical foul and the Detroit Pistons got 21 points off 29 Chicago turnovers Wednesday as they beat the Bulls 91-77. "We got a big lead and thought we were done," Stackhouse said. "We had to get after it a little bit longer." Young and inexperienced, the Bulls have found just about every way to lose this season. They've been outrebounded, outshot and outplayed. They've forgotten what assists are. On Wednesday, the problems were turnovers. The Bulls were just five turnovers shy of the team record for a regulation game as they lost their ninth straight. Their butter fingers even made the Pistons look good when they really weren't. Detroit, second-best in the NBA with 103.7 points per game, was held under 100 points for only the third time in 11 games. Stackhouse, Hill and former Bull Jud Buechler were the only players in double figures, and the Pistons shot just 29-of-80 (36 percent) from the floor. "I don't know why we turned it over. That's the only way they were scoring, off our turnovers," said Dickey Simpkins, who had six miscues. "I don't think they were really forcing turnovers, it was just one of those nights. If we cut those turnovers in half, we would have won that game." That's more than pure optimism, too. After Buechler gave the Pistons their largest lead of the game, 73-52, with a 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter, the Bulls had only one turnover the rest of the game and Detroit's lead dwindled. Corey Benjamin scored eight points, including two 3-pointers, as Chicago went on a 10-2 run to cut Detroit's lead to 78-68 with 6:39 left. Elton Brand's dunk with 3:28 left cut the lead to 82-74 and had the United Center crowd screaming, but Stackhouse ended the run and silenced the fans with a 3-pointer. B.J. Armstrong led the Bulls with 22 points, and Brand added 17 with 10 rebounds and eight blocked shots. Benjamin finished with 14 points. "We got through it," Hill said. "We just have to forget about today and win tomorrow. We need to get out of this negative feeling from being below .500 all season. This will be good for morale." The Pistons fell behind early as the Bulls showed a little bit of their former selves. With Armstrong leading the way, Chicago went on a 10-5 run and took a 19-14 lead with 2:59 left in the first quarter. The lead could have been even bigger if the Bulls could have held onto the ball, but they gave it away 11 times in the first quarter alone. The Pistons were frustrated early, with both Hill and coach Alvin Gentry getting called for technical fouls in the first nine minutes of the game. "I don't have $5,000, so I can't really comment on the officiating," Gentry said. But Detroit quickly regained control of the game, going on an 11-2 run over the end of the first quarter and start of the second to take a 27-21 lead. Chicago never led again. "We held them to 36 percent, but it wasn't good enough to win because of the turnovers," Chicago coach Tim Floyd said. "We missed a bunch of free throws that hurt us. We missed a lot of layups. We have to learn how to play through mistakes. We were a little better taking care of the second half, but turnovers broke the stand." Game notesBuechler, who finished with a season-high 10 points, got a loud ovation when he came into the game with 1:41 left in the first quarter. ... Detroit had its own ball-handling problems, turning the ball over 19 times. ... Chicago's Dickey Simpkins was called for a flagrant foul. ... Khalid Reeves, signed by Chicago before the game, finished with four points, four rebounds, four assists and five fouls in 14 minutes | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Detroit Clubhouse Chicago Clubhouse RECAPS Indiana 116 Atlanta 89
Detroit 91
Philadelphia 97
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