Not even a heroic performance from Zach LaVine was enough to save the Chicago Bulls as they slipped to a 118-102 defeat to the Detroit Pistons.
LaVine scored a staggering 51 points but remarkably did not record an assist, making it the first time a player has scored more than 50 points and failed to assist a teammate since Klay Thompson in 2018, which was coincidentally against the Bulls.
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It was a career-high figure for LaVine, who went seven from 13 at three-point range and also nabbed four rebounds.
Yet it was not enough for the Bulls, who faded in alarming fashion in the fourth quarter.
Chicago was still within reach of Detroit entering the final period, down by just seven points (84-77).
But the Bulls failed to mount any sort of comeback, as the Pistons outscored them by 11 points (34-25) as they cruised to a 16-point win.
LaVine also didn’t get much help from his teammates in the points column either, with Nikola Vucevic adding 12 points and DeMar DeRozan scoring 20, with the next highest figure being Ayo Dosunmu’s five points.
For the Pistons, Jalen Duren and Cade Cunningham were pivotal to the victory.
Duren scored 23 points and chalked up 15 rebounds, while Cunningham racked up 25 points and contributed 10 assists.
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ALARMING TREND EMERGES AS MISFIRING KNICKS MADE TO PAY
The Knicks had lamented the amount of turnovers they committed Friday night against the Hawks, even if they were able to outshoot their mistakes for their first victory of the season.
Sixteen turnovers one night earlier in Atlanta were exceeded by 19 more giveaways — led by a whopping eight by Julius Randle — in the sloppy Knicks’ ugly, 96-87 loss to the Pelicans on the second half of a back-to-back Saturday night at Smoothie King Center.
Randle also endured another erratic shooting performance, finishing 4-for-15 overall while missing all five of his 3-point attempts to finish with 10 points.
The two-time All-Star forward has connected on just 27.7 per cent of his field-goal attempts (13-for-47) through the Knicks’ 1-2 start.
Jalen Brunson, who had buried a career-high eight 3-pointers Friday against the Hawks, missed four of five from long distance as part of a 7-for-37 teamwide shooting effort from beyond the arc.
RJ Barrett scored 18 points to lead the Knicks, who will complete this three-game road trip Tuesday night in Cleveland.
Brandon Ingram netted 26 points to lead the Pelicans (2-0), and Zion Williamson had 24 on 12-for-17 shooting in his first game against the Knicks in more than two years.
FULL NBA RESULTS
Pistons 118-102 Bulls
Pelicans 96-87 Knicks
Wizards 114-106 Grizzlies
Cavaliers v Pacers
Raptors 107-114 Sixers
Timberwolves v Heat
Suns v Jazz