CHICAGO _ Word from the NBA office that center Robin Lopez would be unavailable to the Bulls for their game against the Pistons on Wednesday night came as a surprise to absolutely no one.
When you exchange punches the way Lopez did with the Raptors' Serge Ibaka the previous night, a suspension is warranted and the league didn't hesitate with its announcement that the combatants would each be forced to sit out one game.
For the Bulls, the timing could have been better as Lopez's punishment meant he wasn't at the United Center when they took the court against the Pistons and their load of a big man, Andre Drummond. Needing a victory to close the gap on the Pistons for the ninth spot in the Eastern Conference, that left the Bulls with a vacancy in the middle that was exacerbated because backup center Cristiano Felicio was sidelined with a lower-back bruise.
"It's unfortunate what went down, but we've all got Robin's back," coach Fred Hoiberg said shortly before tipoff. "We'll deal with it and move on."
The Bulls did, in fact, deal with it as they breathed some life into their postseason hopes with a 117-95 thumping of the lifeless Pistons. With Lopez and Felicio out of the lineup, Nikola Mirotic stepped up with one of his best games of the season, scoring 28 points, including four 3-pointers.
Joffrey Lauvergne added 17 points and seven rebounds and Jimmy Butler 16 points and 12 assists for the Bulls, who had five players score in double figures and shot 58.8 percent from the floor. The Bulls improved to 34-28, tying the Pistons. They moved one game behind the Heat for the eighth playoff spot.
Even without Lopez _ who missed his first game of the season _ and Felicio, the Bulls dominated down low as they outscored the Pistons 58-44 in the paint. Drummond wasn't able to get it going offensively against Lauvergne, who started in place of Lopez, and Bobby Portis. The veteran finished with only eight points but pulled down 17 rebounds.
Though Lopez's absence left them short-handed at a most inopportune time, there apparently was no finger-pointing from his teammates.
"If you ask anybody in that locker room, Robin Lopez is one of the most _ if not the most _ popular guy on this team," Hoiberg said. "He's a guy that goes out and approaches his job the same way every day. He goes to work. He never complains. He does what's asked of him. He's as passionate of a guy as we have on this team. He's got a fire to him that you just don't ever want to take away. This game gets very competitive (and) it gets heated at times."
Raptors assistant coach Jamaal Magloire was fined $15,000 for pushing Mirotic and acting as other than a peacemaker. Ibaka will serve his suspension Thursday when the Raptors visit the Heat in Miami.
"When you've got big, strong, physical guys out there competing against each other, these kinds of things can happen," Hoiberg said. "You go back and watch on film, there are little jabs that happen in the course of the game and sometimes it reaches the boiling point. Robin plays with a lot of passion."
