|
 On a night when his teammates couldn't find their stroke, Morris
poured in 26 points as the Pistons remained unbeaten with a 98-94
overtime victory over the Chicago Bulls at The Palace.
Morris shot 10-for-15 from the field, compared to 29-of-89 shooting
(32.6 percent) from the rest of the team. Morris is averaging a
team-best 19.3 points on the 3-0 Pistons, a huge jump from his
career average of 8.9 per game.
The fifth-year small forward, who also grabbed seven rebounds, was
acquired in an offseason deal with Phoenix.
"I said this when we brought him here, he's one of those guys that
if you get him in the right spot, the right system and give him an
opportunity, he can really thrive," Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy
said. "We're only three games in but right now, he's certainly
thriving."
Morris is averaging 14.7 shot attempts after never averaging more
than 9.4 per game with the Suns.
"He's allowing me to just play my game," Morris said of Van Gundy.
"When you have that confidence, the only thing you can do is get
better."
"He really got it going for us," Pistons point guard Reggie Jackson
said. "We couldn't find the bottom of the basket but he was hot and
we needed him to be hot."
Detroit center Andre Drummond racked up the fifth 20-20 game of his
four-year career, getting exactly those amounts. Jackson, who
recorded his 1,000th career assist during the third quarter,
contributed 22 points and seven assists.
The Pistons are shooting just 38.7 percent in their three wins but
stout defense has propelled them to their best start in seven
seasons.
"The biggest thing is our guys are fighting really hard," Van Gundy
said. "We've got to keep defending like that but our offense has to
come along."
Shooting guard Jimmy Butler tossed in 23 points and grabbed 11
rebounds and power forward Nikola Mirotic had 22 points for the
Bulls (2-1). Center Pau Gasol added 16 points and 12 rebounds while
point guard Derrick Rose, held scoreless until midway through the
final quarter, finished with eight points.
Chicago committed 20 turnovers, leading to 21 Pistons points.
"They got 20 extra opportunities than we did tonight with the 20
offensive rebounds and the 20 turnovers," Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg
said. "It's going to be tough to win when that happens."
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Detroit scored on its first three possessions of overtime. Morris
fired in a jumper, Jackson made a driving layup and reserve forward
Anthony Tolliver drilled a 3-pointer to make it 90-83. Drummond's
put-back with 1:35 left kept the lead at seven, 94-87.
Butler made a 3-pointer to cut Detroit's lead to 96-92 but Chicago
couldn't pull any closer.
Rose's first basket, coming with 6:28 remaining, put the Bulls up
76-74. Morris hit a fadeaway jumper to even it at 79.
Drummond's tip-in with 1:40 left gave Detroit an 83-81 advantage but
Rose quickly tied it with a layup. Both clubs committed shot-clock
violations during their ensuing possessions. Jackson and Rose then
missed jumpers, sending the game to overtime. Rose missed a 17-foot
attempt while being blanketed by shooting guard Kentavious
Caldwell-Pope.
"I should have pump faked but it's a learning experience," Rose
said. "A young guy was sticking to me. I should have pump faked, but
it takes going through it to really learn for the next time."
The Bulls committed 13 turnovers in the first half, yet still led
39-35 at halftime.
NOTES: Pistons SG Jodie Meeks, who was injured during the home
opener on Wednesday, underwent a surgical procedure Thursday to
repair a non-displaced fracture in his right foot. He is expected to
miss 12-16 weeks. ... Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg clarified prior to
the game whether C Joakim Noah asked to play with the second unit.
"Did he specifically say 'I want to come off the bench'?' No,"
Hoiberg said. "Nobody wants to come off the bench, but it's the
decision we came up with." ... Chicago hasn't started a season 3-0
since 1996-97, when it began that campaign with a 12-0 mark. Detroit
hasn't won its first three games of the season since 2008-09, when
it started off 4-0. ... The teams will meet three more times this
season, with the next matchup at Chicago on Dec. 18. ... The Bulls
won eight of the last 12 meetings.
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