This time, there was no collapse.

Luol Deng scored 25 points, Kirk Hinrich and Ben Gordon added 19 apiece, and the Bulls hung on to beat Detroit 102-87 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals this afternoon and avoid a sweep.

"I don't care who it is, we are better than being swept in four games," Ben Wallace said. "We just have to come out and fight."

Unlike Game 3, when the Bulls saw a 19-point lead dissolve into a seven-point loss, Chicago withstood a late push by Detroit. The Bulls outscored the Pistons 27-13 in the third quarter to turn a seven-point halftime lead into a 77-56 advantage going into the fourth.

They didn't flinch when Chauncey Billups hit two free throws with 3:55 left to cut it to 87-80, or when he answered Gordon's 3-pointer with one of his own. That made it 90-83 with 2:46 remaining, but the Bulls hung on against a Pistons team that had won 12 of 13 closeout games.

"I think the feeling was we knew the run was coming," Hinrich said. "You feel like the shift in momentum. We just needed to take a deep breath and just keep what we were doing to get there -- moving the ball, keeping an up-tempo game and getting stops."

The Bulls still have a long way to go to join the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, 1975 New York Islanders and 2004 Boston Red Sox as the only major pro teams to win a best-of-seven series after falling behind 3-0. The Pistons will try to wrap this one up Tuesday at The Palace of Auburn Hills, where they blew out Chicago in Games 1 and 2 after sweeping Orlando in the first round.

Deng was 10-of-15 after shooting 38 percent in the first three games and grabbed 13 rebounds.

"I just had good looks," Deng said. "You make your first couple shots and your confidence goes up."

Although he committed five turnovers, Hinrich added 10 assists and took a charge on Billups after Billups hit those free throws to pull within seven. Wallace delivered a vintage performance against his former team, grabbing 17 rebounds, and the Bulls held a 51-33 edge on the glass.

Wallace also scored 11 points and blocked two shots, while Tyrus Thomas provided a boost in the fourth quarter, scoring eight of his 10 points.

"I guess we realized finally we didn't have anything to lose," Hinrich said. "We just came out and we settled into ourselves tonight. We felt we had gotten away from what we had been successful doing throughout the season and throughout the playoffs so far this series."

Billups led Detroit with 23 points. Tayshaun Prince added 18, but Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace and Chris Webber all had rough afternoons. Hamilton (11 points) was just 4-for-12. Wallace was just 4-for-16 and scored 14. Webber did not score.