Point guard Cade Cunningham leads the Detroit Pistons on the floor and is the team’s top scorer at 25.5 points per game.
Everyone could use a breather, though, and the Pistons like the early returns from backup guard Dennis Schroder.
Schroder will look to keep building during Tuesday’s visit to the Chicago Bulls. Acquired via trade last week, Schroder contributed five points and three assists in 15 minutes in his team debut Sunday, helping Detroit top the visiting Charlotte Hornets 112-102.
Chicago figures to have an up-close look at a lot of Schroder’s assimilation into the rotation. Tuesday marks the first in a back-to-back between the teams in Chicago before the All-Star break.
Detroit entered the week as the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference and is confident Schroder can help keep the playoff pursuit steady as Jaden Ivey (broken left fibula) remains out.
That growth ultimately will expand Schroder’s role and even allow for sharing the floor with Cunningham, who had a triple-double of 19 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds Sunday.
“Teams have been wanting to put a lot of bodies on Cade,” Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “Now he can come off and find a guy like Dennis, who has the ability to make plays and attack the paint and force rotations.
“Also, things like bringing the ball up the floor and then having Cade off the ball and being able to play different actions to get the ball back in his hands, those types of things.”
The Bulls are 7-3 in the past 10 meetings with the Pistons. The teams have split their first two games this season, including Detroit’s 127-119 home win on Feb. 2.
Chicago has lost 11 of 15 to fall a season-worst nine games below .500 but still enters Tuesday with a 1 1/2-game lead on Philadelphia for the No. 10 seed and final slot in the East play-in tournament.
The Bulls are 1-2 since trading leading scorer Zach LaVine to the Sacramento Kings.
Guard Coby White has remained a go-to option for the Bulls on either side of that move. He has scored at least 20 points in five consecutive games, including a team-leading 27 in Saturday’s 132-111 loss to Golden State to kick off a three-game homestand.
White connected on 6 of 9 attempts from long range against the Warriors. Coach Billy Donovan called White’s ability to make “some very deep, tough shots” a key to the Bulls surging to a 24-point third-quarter lead.
Yet Chicago trailed by as many as 25 points down the stretch, and the culprit was frustratingly familiar: inconsistency. After holding strong on the glass and being secure with the ball in the first half, the Bulls struggled in both departments against the Warriors after halftime.
“That’s the growth (needed) for this group,” Donovan said. “They’ve got to be able to raise their level of play.”
Rookie Matas Buzelis was Chicago’s second-leading scorer Saturday with 16 points, his sixth straight game in double figures.
The Bulls hope renewing their rivalry with the Pistons will help spark big man Nikola Vucevic, who has scored no more than 12 points in his past three games, significantly below his season average of 19.3.
Vucevic has posted a double-double in five straight games against Detroit while averaging 24.4 points and 11.2 rebounds over that span.
–Field Level Media
