It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win and the Bulls’ 94-88 victory over the Pistons to open the 2021-22 season has them over .500 for the first time since March 2, 2017.
After all the talk about the Bulls boasting a potentially explosive offense while struggling on defense, it was that much-maligned defense that came up big as the offense outside of Zach LaVine couldn’t get much going. Going up against a limited Pistons team without No. 1 pick Cade Cunningham certainly helped matters for the defense, which did get taken advantage of down low at times, but their aggressiveness and activity made life difficult on Detroit.