CHICAGO (AP) — Malik Beasley made seven 3-pointers and finished with 24 points, and the Detroit Pistons built a franchise-record, 42-point halftime lead on the way to a 132-92 romp over the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night.
Detroit outscored the Bulls 71-29 in the first half, eclipsing the previous mark of 34 points against Chicago on March 23, 1969.
Beasley set a Detroit record for 3-pointers in a season with 212 after making 7 of 10. The previous mark was 211 by Saddiq Bey in 2021-22. Cade Cunningham added 20 points, seven assists and six rebounds as the Pistons came away with their most lopsided win of the season.
Tobias Harris scored 18 and Ausar Thompson finished with 16 points as the Pistons rolled to their third win in a row.
The Bulls set a team record by missing their first 20 3-pointers before Ayo Dosunmu hit one near the end of the second quarter. They were 10 of 47 from beyond the arc and shot 35% overall in the game.
Things were so comical for Chicago that Nikola Vucevic threw his arms up in mock celebration after making a hook shot late in the first half that trimmed the deficit to 43. And the crowd cheered, too.
Chicago had just two players score in double figures — Matas Buzelis (12 points) and Josh Giddey (11).
Coby White scored a season-low five, making just 2 of 13 shots and missing all eight 3-point attempts.
Takeaways
Pistons: Detroit is sixth in the Eastern Conference and trying to avoid the play-in tournament. Performances like this sure don't hurt.
Bulls: The Bulls’ previous record for 3-pointers missed to begin a game was 17 on Nov. 9, 2004, against Phoenix and Feb. 2, 2020, against Charlotte.
Key moment
The Pistons simply took control from the opening tip and never looked back.
Key stat
Detroit shot 53.1% overall and was 18 of 41 on 3-pointers.
Up next
The teams meet again in Chicago on Wednesday. ___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Andrew Seligman, The Associated Press