APRIL 11, 2018 | CS3 MEDIA NEWS
CHICAGO—The Pistons Defeated the Bulls 119-87 on Wednesday night. The Bulls tried to get some momentum early in the third quarter with a 13-5 run. After Markkanen scored six straight points, the Bulls got the margin down to 71-63. However, the Pistons answered with a 11-0 run of their own as Ish Smith scored six points. The Pistons continued to dominate the game as they established a 34 point margin in the fourth quarter. For the Bulls, Lauri Markkanen scored 20 points and 8 rebounds and Sean Kilpatrick added 14 in his only start of the season for Bulls.
“We learned a lot as a team and I learned a lot as an individual, “ Markkanen said. “I know a lot more now, even though it’s only one season. I’m a lot better player than when I was coming in, but I have a lot of work ahead of me.” Markkanen made 3 of 7 three 3-pointers during the game which was enough to set a new franchise record of 145 3-pointers made as a rookie. He broke Kirk Hinrich’s record of 144 3-pointers in 2003-04. For the Pistons, Luke Kennard scored a career-high of 23 points, Eric Moreland added 16 points, 17 rebounds for a career high. Moreland started in place of injured Andre Drummond. He played for 41 minutes, and it was the most playing time of his career. “We also have a resilient group, everybody cares on this team, and everybody just comes to work every day,” Moreland said. “But even coming out not making the playoffs, I knew everybody would play hard and go into the offseason with our heads high knowing we played hard.”
Throughout the season, the Bulls battled to get consistency after the rebuild. “Throw this game out,” Chicago coach Fred Hoiberg said. “It was a team that was a lot of fun to coach. It was a group that whether we were going through good times or bad, they came in with the right approach.” Losing their fourth straight game, The Bulls maintained their seventh position heading into the draft lottery on May 15. For the first time since 2007-08, the Bulls finished the season under .500.
