Detroit Pistons vs. Chicago Bulls - Friday, Feb. 20, 2015

Spencer Dinwiddie (left) career highs of 12 points and nine assists in his first NBA start.

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

AUBURN HILLS - It's no coincidence rookie Spencer Dinwiddie has his best NBA game Friday night during his first start for the Detroit Pistons.

Knowing he was going to get consistent minutes because the Pistons were short-handed, Dinwiddie played looser and without any worries about getting yanked for making a mistake or two.

The result was his best performance in 17 games this season as he bagged 12 points and nine assists in 31 minutes - all career-highs - to help the Pistons post an improbable 100-91 victory over the Chicago Bulls at The Palace.

Dinwiddie was pressed into a starting role because the trade that brought point guard Reggie Jackson to Detroit from Oklahoma City for D.J. Augustin and Kyle Singler won't be complete until all parties involved pass their physicals today.

Augustin had been Detroit's starting point guard since Brandon Jennings tore his Achillles last month.

"You have more butterflies if you're a starter but at the same time, you're looser," Dinwiddie said. "D.J. said it best when Brandon got injured. He went on that tear and started playing well. Everybody in the league is good but certain opportunities can help you to show what they can do.

"It's hard in a lot of cases to be that backup, constricted (in a) four-minutes-here role, than to be able to go out there and understand that if you get a turnover, he's going to let you play through it a little more."

The "he" Dinwiddie was referring to is Stan Van Gundy, the Pistons head coach and team president who along with general manager Jeff Bower orchestrated two trades minutes before Thursday's deadline.

Dinwiddie recounted the moments leading up to the deadline, when the Pistons knew something was in the works and were in their locker room checking Twitter to find out who was going where as the clock ticked closer to the 3 p.m. deadline.

Dinwiddie thought he was going to be sent packing as he followed Twitter with Gigi Datome, who instead ended up being dealt to Boston along with Jonas Jerebko and two second-round draft picks in exchange for Tayshaun Prince.

"When the trade happened, I was still kind of 50-50 on whether I was going to go or not," Dinwiddie said. "I thought Stan was shipping me off, too."

Dinwiddie was actually supposed to spend the weekend playing in Grand Rapids for the Pistons' D-League affiliate before the trades went down.

Van Gundy isn't about to give up on Dinwiddie, whose abilities he has never questioned since using Detroit's second-round pick (38th overall) in last year's draft to take him out of Colorado.

He likes everything about Dinwiddie except for his pace of play.

But after seeing the way Dinwiddie played in the Pistons' first two practices following the All-Star break, Van Gundy had a hunch the rookie might play well against the Bulls, whose 19 road wins shared the NBA lead.

"He was outstanding," Van Gundy said. "He's a pretty poised guy. That's never been the problem Our issue with him has been his motor, his pace. He tends to do things at a jog. I thought he made a real effort the last two days in practice to pick that up and he was better tonight.

"I thought he pushed the ball on the break, he attacked more on pick and rolls. That's really the issue with him. He's got size, he's got skill, he's got smarts, he's got a lot of poise. It's just getting his motor going and it was better tonight."

With Jackson and Prince unavailable - the former watched in street clothes on the bench while the latter has yet to report - the Pistons only had 10 players available against the Bulls.

That led to big minutes for virtually everyone and saw veteran forward Caron Butler join Dinwiddie in making his first start of the season.

Butler also played well, scoring 20 points on 6-for-10 shooting while getting four rebounds, four steals and three assists.

The 34-year-old Butler, who was questionable for the game because of back spasms, was inactive during the Pistons two games prior to the All-Star Game. His 6-for-6 free-throw shooting in the final 2 1/2 minutes helped seal the victory.

"Caron was terrific," Van Gundy said. "You got to be happy for him. He stayed ready. Those are the guys who might not put up big numbers but if you're going to be a good team, you've got to have them.

"Those are the guys that keep themselves ready and his performance tonight was outstanding."

Andre Drummond led the Pistons (22-33) with 18 points and 20 rebounds in 39 minutes. It was the sixth game this season and 13th time in his career Drummond has grabbed at least 20 boards.

Greg Monroe had 20 points in 37 minutes and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 12 as all five starters played at least 30 minutes.

Drummond had 10 points and 14 rebounds by halftime, when the Pistons trailed 53-45. But they started the third quarter by making 11 of their first 16 shots to take a 71-60 lead they never relinquished.

Jimmy Butler scored a game-high 30 points for Chicago (34-21). Taj Gibson added 15 points, Pau Gasol scored 12 and Joakim Noah had 10 points to go with 14 rebounds.

The game was the first of five straight at home for the Pistons, who trail eighth-place Miami by 11/2 games in the Eastern Conference.

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