The pregame hugs and smiles were still genuine, the taunting and trash-talking still good-natured.
But in this season’s third installment of Bulls-Pistons, something changed.
No longer did the sideshow of Ben Wallace facing his current best friends and former teammates take center stage. Instead, basketball, even when it was less than artful, ruled Thursday night.
“That’s where the focus should be,” Wallace said.
In the glare of a national cable audience and a raucous United Center sellout crowd of 22,243, the Bulls clinched their third straight playoff berth with an 83-81 victory.
Kirk Hinrich hit 2 of 3 free throws with 2.8 seconds left after pump-faking Carlos Delfino into the air and drawing a foul beyond the three-point line.
Tayshaun Prince then launched an air ball from 19 feet under heavy pressure from Luol Deng at the buzzer.
The Pistons had tied the game 81-81 when Wallace failed to grab his 20th rebound, the carom from a Delfino miss going straight to Prince for a layup with 7.8 seconds remaining.
Taking advantage of a Pistons lineup without under-the-weather Chris Webber and Richard Hamilton, the Bulls moved a season-high 13 games above .500 and within a half-game of the Cavaliers for the Eastern Conference’s second seed.
They can seize that position, much as Wallace seized his 19 rebounds, with a home victory Saturday against the Cavs.
“We’re a perennial playoff team,” coach Scott Skiles said. “It’s a good spot to be in. We can focus on what seed we’re going to get rather than making it.”
Ben Gordon’s 25 points led the Bulls, and he passed off to Hinrich on the final offensive play after drawing a triple team.
If Ben Wallace called Rasheed Wallace’s past-half-court three-pointer that forced overtime in Detroit’s victory Monday over the Nuggets lucky, what to call Ben’s prayer early in the fourth? He arched it high over Rasheed and Antonio McDyess, and it bounced off the top of the backboard before dropping in.
That basket gave the Bulls a 66-63 lead and started a 13-2 run that began to change the game.
Gordon, 5 of 14 through three quarters and battling foul trouble, scored seven straight points after Wallace’s wonder. And then Tyrus Thomas added two free throws off an offensive rebound and a rim-rattling dunk to help keep the Bulls’ goal of single-digit home losses alive.
The Pistons made one last run. Wallace and Delfino made back-to-back three-pointers to cut their deficit to 79-75. Thomas then took an alley-oop from Deng and crushed home a dunk with 1 minute 50 seconds remaining. The rookie finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
But Gordon missed two free throws with 92 seconds left and Prince, who led the Pistons with 26 points, hit two free throws three seconds later. After a Hinrich miss, Chauncey Billups scored to make it 81-79 with 48.1 seconds left.
Hinrich added 15 points and eight assists for the Bulls, who defeated the Pistons at home for just the second time in 14 tries.
After a strong first quarter in which they led by as many as 10, the Bulls played one of their worst quarters of the season in the second.
They shot 5-for-22 for 22.7 percent. They committed three turnovers. They allowed 55.6 percent shooting.
But the Bulls hung on, improving to 14-5 since the All-Star break.
After nine more regular-season games, a playoff seed will be known and the real work will begin. Wallace is ready.
“I’m going to be doing the same thing in the playoffs that I’m doing now,” he said. “These guys in the locker room work hard night in and night out.
“And when you talk about the Bulls, we should be mentioned as a team and not an individual. I’m glad to see the focus start to shift that way.”
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kcjohnson@tribune.com
