Road-weary Bulls get overwhelmed by Pacers, Oladipo
The Indiana Pacers went 0-4 while top scorer Victor Oladipo sat out with a sore knee.
The Bulls got a break by playing the Pacers during that stretch, then they had the misfortune of catching Oladipo's return to action on Saturday at Bankers Life Arena.
On top of that, the Bulls were playing the second leg of back to back games after winning in Dallas on Friday, while Indiana had been off since Wednesday. The Bulls got into town around 3 a.m. on Saturday morning.
All those factors played a part in a clunker performance by the Bulls. The Pacers (20-19) pulled away at the start of the second quarter and never looked back in a 125-86 victory.
"The second quarter we were awful," coach Fred Hoiberg told reporters after the game. "The things that make us successful as a team, we didn't do tonight."
Oladipo looked like his old self, producing 23 points, 9 assists and 5 steals. Bobby Portis led the Bulls with 15 points, followed by Lauri Markkanen and Denzel Valentine with 13 each.
"I was just out there playing," Oladipo said. "I just kind of get lost in the game and do whatever I can to help my teammates. I just try to set the tone on both ends."
Justin Holiday, after hitting 11 of 15 shots from 3-point range in the previous two games, went 1-for-9 from behind the arc and 2-for-14 overall at Indiana. Jerian Grant also had a rough shooting night, going 0-for-11.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Nikola Mirotic felt ill after the Dallas game, but he played 23 minutes and scored 8 points against the Pacers.
The Bulls (14-26) had a decent first quarter, trailing 31-26 when it was over. While the Bulls missed 10 of their first 11 shots to open the second quarter, Indiana used a 17-2 run to build the lead to 20 points. The Bulls' streak of scoring at least 110 points ended at five straight games.
"The bottom line is (Indiana) looked comfortable all night," Hoiberg said. "They brought the fight to us tonight. They got into us right away. We didn't handle it well."
The Bulls are now 11-6 since their resurgence began on Dec. 8 and this was just the second lopsided loss in that span.
After taking a day off, Monday should be significant, because the Bulls are expected to pull all interested parties together and decide a date for Zach LaVine to return from a torn ACL in his left knee. LaVine has been very anxious to play and his recovery seems to have gone smoothly, so it's conceivable he makes his Bulls debut on Monday when the Bulls host Houston. Rockets star James Harden is not expected to play that night due to a hamstring injury.
After Houston, the Bulls play at New York on Wednesday, then are off until hosting Detroit next Saturday.
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