Bulls Learn Lesson // No Second-Half Fade Vs. Hurting Pistons

BULLS 117 PISTONS 96

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. This time, the Bulls got it right.

They jumped out to a big halftime lead against an opponentplaying without a pair of starters and followed up with a solidsecond half.

The result was an easy 117-96 victory Friday night over theonce-hated Detroit Pistons, who were without Grant Hill and JoeDumars (both home because of illness). But facing a short-handedopponent wasn't a guarantee of success earlier in the week as theBulls blew a 19-point lead Monday against New Jersey.

"Unfortunately for us, we had to learn a valuable lesson thehard way," said B.J. Armstrong, who had a season-high 22 points on8-for-12 shooting in his hometown.

"We really wanted to come out with a strong effort after thatNew Jersey game. We were very concerned coming in because usuallywhen a team is playing without two players, they usually have a lotof energy."

But it was the Bulls who had all the energy Friday. They jumpedon top immediately and never trailed.

"We're happy to get a win, whatever the circumstances," coachPhil Jackson said.

Besides Armstrong and Scottie Pippen (19 points), the Bulls(9-8) also got strong bench play as Bill Wennington (season-high 16points), Toni Kukoc (13) and Steve Kerr (12) scored in doublefigures.

"We wanted to go for the kill early," Pippen said. "We playedhard throughout the game. We come in here very competitive, knowinghow tough it was with the Pistons of old."

These were the Pistons of old, all right - from last season,when they won just 20 games. For them, the new went from bad toworse after the game. Lindsay Hunter suffered a bad ankle sprainlate in the game and Oliver Miller was placed on the injured listwith a broken hand, an injury he apparently suffered last month.

The Pistons (8-9) suffered through a poor shooting night, going34-for-87 (39.1 percent) overall and 3-for-23 (13 percent) fromthree-point range.

"They say when it rains, it pours - and it's pouring on us rightnow," Detroit coach Don Chaney said. "We just have to hopefully hangin there and get through this. We are short-handed, and we're goingto have to have guys step up and play hard."

The absence of Hill, a brilliant rookie, and the veteran Dumarsdidn't help matters, but this game was a vivid reminder just how farthe Bulls-Pistons rivalry has slipped.

A sellout crowd of 21,454 jammed the Palace, but there waslittle reason for them to get excited. The Pistons struggledvirtually the entire way, and the Bulls went about closing out thegame in workmanlike fashion. The crowd began filing out with aboutseven minutes remaining.

About the only thing resembling past Bulls-Pistons games was aflagrant foul by Terry Mills on Wennington in the fourth quarter.But it apparently was more a foul of frustration then intimidation.

Wennington made both free throws for a 103-83 Bulls lead with6:54 remaining.

"I'm not sure it was meant to be," Jackson said of the foul andbumping. "Maybe guys were just clumsy."

"I asked (Bill) Laimbeer if he would have done the same thing,"Armstrong said. "He said, `Sure.' "

The Pistons' start shooting the ball Friday wasn't as bad as NewJersey's in the Bulls' previous game, but it must have caused a fewflashbacks.

"We just wanted to get off to a good start in the second half,"Jackson said. "The intensity level was up there. We moved the ballwell and had some shooters out there."

The Bulls were 37-for-75 (49.3 percent) from the field for thegame despite making just eight of 21 shots during agarbage-time-dominated fourth quarter.

They also posted a 56-52 rebounding advantage and had 10 blockedshots, with Pippen and Will Perdue getting three apiece. BOX SCORE, PAGE 96