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Pistons hope to avoid season sweep by Bulls

Mar 9, 2008 - 1:22 PM Chicago (25-37) at Detroit (45-17) 8:00 pm EDT

AUBURN HILLS, Michigan (Ticker) - The Detroit Pistons open a five-game homestand on Sunday when they face the Chicago Bulls.

With the second-best home record in the East at 23-5, Detroit hopes to avoid its first season-series sweep by Chicago since dropping all four meetings during the 1995-96 campaign.

In the last matchup between the clubs here on December 7, Andres Nocioni came off the bench to score 22 points, leading the Bulls to a 98-91 victory.

The Pistons, who were without All-Star forward Rasheed Wallace (ankle), bounced back following their tough loss at Boston with Friday's 101-97 win over the New York Knicks.

The win also saw newly signed free agent Theo Ratliff make his Detroit debut. He finished with five points and five rebounds in place of the injured Wallace.

Chicago had its two-game winning streak stopped with Friday's 116-93 loss to the Eastern Conference-leading Celtics.

Despite just three win in their last eight outings, the Bulls are just one game behind Atlanta (26-36) for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East.

"If we get into the eighth spot, it's going to be fun," Bulls guard Larry Hughes said. "But we have to win some games and we can't rely, coming into the last week of the season, on teams losing."