Nikola Mirotic scored a season-high 28 points, and the Chicago Bulls beat the Detroit Pistons 117-95 in a matchup between struggling teams fighting for a playoff spot on Wednesday night.
Mirotic shot 12 of 15 and made 4 of 6 3-point attempts to lead Chicago to an easy win after dropping eight of 10.
Jimmy Butler added 16 points and 12 assists. Joffrey Lauvergne filled in for suspended center Robin Lopez and outplayed Andre Drummond with 17 points and seven rebounds. Rookie Paul Zipser added a career-high 15 points as the Bulls moved into a ninth-place tie with Detroit in the Eastern Conference.
Tobias Harris and Marcus Morris each scored 14 for the Pistons, losers of five of six. Drummond grabbed 17 rebounds but scored just eight points on 4-of-12 shooting.
The Bulls host Philadelphia on Friday.
>>Celtics Drop Pacers
Isaiah Thomas scored 25 points, Avery Bradley had 18 with eight rebounds and the Boston Celtics beat the Indiana Pacers 109-100 on Wednesday night for their fifth win in six games.
Al Horford added 15 points with eight boards and eight assists, and Jae Crowder also scored 15 points for Boston, which won for the 12th time in 13 home games.
Paul George led the Pacers with 37 points and Jeff Teague had 25. Indiana has alternated by winning and losing in its last 15 games.
The Celtics turned a red-hot shooting third quarter into 39 points, pushing a seven-point halftime lead to 14 after three quarters.
Boston hit 17 of 25 shots from the field, with Marcus Smart's last-second bank shot in the lane capping the shooting. He was fouled on the play and made the free throw, giving the Celtics an 88-74 lead entering the final quarter.
Thomas hit two 3-pointers and scored 11 points in the third.
George kept the Pacers in the game, though, scoring 14 in the quarter.
Trailing by 17 early in the fourth, the Pacers went on a 13-2 run to slice it to 95-89 on Teague's 3-pointer.
Thomas then sandwiched a couple of breakaway layups around a turnaround by Horford to seal it.
The Pacers open a three-game home stand, beginning with Denver on Friday.
>>Lopez Gets Game Suspension For Altercation With Ibaka
Chicago's Robin Lopez and Toronto's Serge Ibaka have both been suspended one game without pay by the NBA for fighting.
Lopez and Ibaka threw punches at one another during the Bulls-Raptors game on Tuesday. Lopez was barred from Chicago's home game with Detroit on Wednesday, and Ibaka will not play when Toronto visits Miami on Thursday.
Also, Raptors assistant coach Jamaal Magloire was fined $15,000 for his role in the altercation. He pushed Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic and the league says he acted "as other than a peacemaker."
Lopez and Ibaka were both ejected and issued technical fouls after Tuesday's incident.
The Raptors and Bulls do not play again this season.
