Mirotic Scores 24 Off Bench, Bulls Win

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Published on December 27 2017 6:23 am
Last Updated on December 27 2017 6:24 am

By ESPN

The Chicago Bulls have been a much better team since Nikola Mirotic got healthy.

And not just on offense.

The big forward came off the bench to score 24 points in 28 minutes as the resurgent Bulls won for the eighth time in 10 games, beating the Milwaukee Bucks 115-106 on Tuesday night.

Chicago's surge coincides with the return of Mirotic, who missed the beginning of the season after suffering facial fractures in an October fight with teammate Bobby Portis. Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg cited the return of Mirotic and guard David Nwaba for the team's recent success.

"You look at our defense since Niko's come back and since David's come back and it's been a big difference for our team," Hoiberg said.

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 28 points and Eric Bledsoe had 22 to pace the Bucks, but Antetokounmpo took only two shots and scored four points in the decisive fourth quarter.

"You're not going to completely stop him but we were better in the fourth getting back in transition," Hoiberg said.

Kris Dunn rebounded from a 1-for-12 shooting game Saturday against Boston with 20 points and 12 assists in 33 minutes for the Bulls (11-22).

"Bad games happen to everybody," Dunn said. "I'm not going to keep my head down. This team believes in me, the coaching staff believes in me, so I'll just keep playing my game and being aggressive."

Milwaukee coach Jason Kidd said expectations were "a little bit too high" for his team, which has lost five of seven.

"At the end of the day, we're a young team," Kidd said. "This is going to be a team that's going to go up and down."

Mirotic, averaging more than 18 points per game, led Chicago's bench in outscoring Milwaukee's reserves 54-25. It was the second time the Bulls won at Milwaukee in 12 days, including a 115-109 victory on Dec. 15.

Nwaba tipped in a rebound to cap an 8-2 run that gave the Bulls a 100-92 lead with 6:16 to go. The closest Milwaukee got the rest of the way was 109-104 with 1:11 left.

Chicago took the lead for good, 86-85, on a 3-pointer by Mirotic with 10:59 left.

"That's what great players do -- they rise to the occasion," Bucks center John Henson said. "He did that tonight."


Piston 107, Pacers 83

A few days back, Detroit Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy had a heart-to-heart talk with forward Tobias Harris.

Van Gundy's message to Harris, who was struggling with his shot, was to get out of his own head and just be in the moment.

"He just told me to clear my head and go out there and enjoy the game and just play off everything that happens," Harris said. "That's what I've been able to do and it's been working."

It worked to near perfection Tuesday night. Harris scored 30 points as the Pistons downed the Indiana Pacers 107-83.

Harris was 10-of-11 from the floor, including making seven of eight 3's.

"It's a new approach I have, since I was not shooting as well as I was before, so I'm just letting the game come to me and just try to feed off what the game brings," Harris said. "You go on with a better mindset playing in the game.

"I'll stick with it."

Harris scored 21 points in the first quarter, as the Pistons rolled to a season-high 40 points and a 40-19 lead.

"Obviously, Tobias had a heck of a first quarter, but it all was clicking, on all cylinders," Pistons center Andre Drummond said. "Everybody was scoring."

Drummond finished with 21 points and a game-high 18 rebounds. The entire starting five for the Pacers combined for just eight rebounds and their offensive output was a season low.

"I have no explanation for that, absolutely none," Pacers coach Nate McMillan said. "We're just digging a hole for ourselves."

Ish Smith (12 points) and Reggie Bullock (11) also reached double digits for Detroit.

Victor Oladipo led the Pacers with 13 points. Domantas Sabonis, Bojan Bogdanovic and Myles Turner each scored 10 points.

The victory moved the Pistons (19-14) past the Pacers (19-15) into second spot in the NBA's Central Division and gave the Pistons a 3-1 decision in the season series between the two teams, the first time Detroit had won the season set from Indiana since going 4-0 against the Pacers in 2007-08.

"That's a team we're looking forward to playing in the playoffs, so to get that advantage is huge for us," Drummond said.


Tuesday, December 26 Scores

Detroit 107, Indiana 83

Dallas 98, Toronto 93

Miami 107, Orlando 89

Chicago 115, Milwaukee 106

San Antonio 109, Brooklyn 97

Denver 107, Utah 83

Phoenix 99, Memphis 97

Los Angeles Clippers 122, Sacramento 95

 

Wednesday, December 27 Schedule (All Times Central)

Boston at Charlotte, 6 p.m.

Dallas at Indiana, 6 p.m.

Washington at Atlanta, 6:30 p.m.

New York at Chicago, 7 p.m.

Denver at Minnesota, 7 p.m.

Brooklyn at New Orleans, 7 p.m.

Toronto at Oklahoma City, 7 p.m.

Cleveland at Sacramento, 9 p.m.

Utah at Golden State, 9:30 p.m.

Memphis at Los Angeles Lakers, 9:30 p.m.