Chicago @ Detroit preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 9, 2018 ) Chicago 83, Detroit 99

The Detroit Pistons' playoff hopes are evaporating, but they will try to continue their pursuit of the final Eastern Conference postseason spot when they host the Chicago Bulls on Saturday. Detroit sits six games behind eighth-place Milwaukee, which defeated the Bulls on Friday, with just 10 contests remaining.

The Pistons fancied making a playoff charge after acquiring Blake Griffin from the Los Angeles Clippers, but they instead are fading with 14 losses in their last 19 games. "Whatever problems we have have not been because of him at all," Detroit coach Stan Van Gundy told reporters of Griffin. "His attitude has been great, his play has been great, and when we get healthy and get the right people around him, this is going to be a good team." Chicago is well out of playoff contention and dropped a 118-105 decision to the Bucks on Friday for its fourth straight setback. The Bulls are just 9-26 on the road as they begin a four-game trek that includes stops in Houston, Miami and Orlando.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBCS Chicago, FS Detroit Plus

ABOUT THE BULLS (24-48): Chicago could fail to reach the 30-win mark for the first time since going 23-59 in 2003-04, but Fred Hoiberg is continuing to coach as if a playoff spot is within reach. "With the way that our season is, the big picture, these guys are getting a great opportunity to play," Hoiberg told reporters. "You have to keep playing all the way to the final horn. I don't care what the score is. We have to try to play the right way." Rookie power forward Lauri Markkanen (back) is one of the building blocks, and he returned from a five-game absence to contribute nine points and six rebounds on Friday but won't make the trip to Detroit so he can rest his back.

ABOUT THE PISTONS (32-40): Rumblings suggesting Van Gundy could be let go after his fourth season with the franchise have started, but the 58-year-old remains bullish that the team is close to turning the corner. "I thought we made really good progress our first two years," Van Gundy told reporters. "We went .500 after Christmas our first year after a miserable start, and then 44 wins and a playoff team. And, quite honestly, we just haven't been able to build on that. There's a lot of reasons. Some of them within our control, some of them not within our control, and we just haven't been able to build on that these last two years." Two more defeats will give Van Gundy three losing seasons during his tenure in Detroit.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. The teams split their first two meetings this season, and the fourth and final matchup is slated for April 11 in Chicago.

2. Detroit was just 6-for-38 from 3-point range in Thursday's 100-96 overtime loss to Houston.

3. Chicago PG Cameron Payne (ankle) was injured while recording 17 points and six assists on Friday, and he underwent X-rays but said "everything was fine" after the contest.

PREDICTION: Pistons 105, Bulls 99