Vince Ellis

Detroit Free Press

The Detroit Pistons didn’t receive much help Thursday night.

The Chicago Bulls (34-33) routed the hapless Brooklyn Nets, 118-102, to move a half-game in front of the Pistons (34-34) in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

And the 10th-place Washington Wizards (33-35), who put a 43-point thumping on the Pistons on Monday night, won their third straight and are just a game behind the Pistons. They went on the road to hold off the Philadelphia 76ers, 99-94, behind John Wall’s triple-double.

But there was some good news for the Pistons, who are fighting to end the conference’s longest streak of missing the playoffs (six seasons). The Indiana Pacers (36-32) lost at home to the Toronto Raptors, 101-94, allowing the Pistons to get within two games of the seventh spot.

The Pistons will try to make up ground tonight, when the Sacramento Kings (26-41) visit the Palace of Auburn Hills (7:30, FSD) for the second of the Pistons’ nine-game home stand -- the longest in franchise history.

Contact Vince Ellis at vellis@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @vincent_ellis56.