Joakim Noah's sparkling performance ensured Chicago Bulls got the better of Detroit Pistons 108-104 in a game which looked like going the Pistons way after the first half.
"I just felt like our energy was just low, from the start of the game," the Associated Press quoted Noah as saying. "It's just human reaction, when there's not a lot of people in the stands, to kind of put your guard down. I think we regrouped pretty well."
Noah scored 30 points and chipped in with 23 rebounds in his team's 16th consecutive victory against the Pistons. He achieved personal landmarks, crossing his previous career-highs -- 26 points and 21 rebounds in Friday's game.
"It's crazy to have numbers like that," Noah added. "I knew I was missing a lot of tips in the beginning of the game. In some arenas, they count as rebounds, and some other arenas, they don't. I'm happy they counted."
The Pistons took an early lead in the game by outscoring the Bulls 30-26 in the first quarter. In the second quarter they extended their lead further by one point and began the second half with five-point lead over their rivals.
But the Bulls rallied in the second half. They outclassed the Pistons in the third quarter by scoring 28 against the opponent's 19.
For the Pistons, reserve Rodney Stuckey top scored with 24 points, while Brandon Knight added 21. Stuckey also had seven assists and two steals in the game.
The Bulls players grabbed 41 rebounds, whereas the Pistons had only 28. Noah had just five less rebounds than the whole Detroit team together.
"Noah had a double-double in both halves. That's just flat-out effort," Pistons coach Lawrence Frank said. "He had 30 points and 23 rebounds, and they didn't run a single play for him."
The fourth quarter saw a lot of action from both teams and the score was tied at 82 points going into the fourth quarter.
Soon inspired by Noah, the Bulls took a seven-point lead. Then Deng shot from beyond the three-point arc to extend the lead to 10 points. The Pistons fought back, but eventually the Bulls won the game by four points.
"The second quarter was an abomination," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. "We gave them pick-and-rolls, we gave them cuts, we were ball watching, lacked awareness."
The Pistons did well in the offense and took important lead in the first half, but their defense could not put the required pressure on the opponents.
"It's even more frustrating, because in this streak, they've been holding us around 80 points, with a few games in the 70s. We got 104 tonight, and we still didn't beat them," Detroit's Tayshaun Prince said.
"Our offense was doing great things, but we let down on defense, and when we did get a miss, Noah kept the ball alive. We had 28 rebounds and he had 23, so you can see how well that went."
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