INDIANAPOLIS — The Pacers didn’t get in from their West Coast trip until 6am and then had to fool with the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night. Even though they were tired and worn out they were able to keep new Bulls head coach Jim Boylen from getting his first win on their floor as they got rid of them 96-90.
Darren Collison did work as he led the Pacers with 23 points on 6 of 7 shooting from the floor and 3 of 4 from behind the arc. Myles Turner came up big for the Blue and Gold with a solid double-double finishing with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocks. Bojan Bogdanovic dropped off 14 points as Tyreke Evans finished with 10.
The Bulls jumped out of the ride and quickly went up 12-6 on the Pacers who were playing without Victor Oladipo for the eighth straight game. He’s out indefinitely with soreness in his right knee. After an Indiana timeout the Pacers came back out ready to play as Myles Turner exploded for 4 straight points and a monster block which literally settled his teammates down. They went on a 15-0 run before Chicago scored another bucket and at the end of the first quarter the Pacers were up 23-21.
The Bulls came back to life at the start of the second quarter as both teams traded baskets for most of the period before the Bulls ended the half up 45-43. Indiana came out of the break locked and loaded as they outscored Chicago in both the third and fourth quarter to put them out of their misery.
It’s crazy that the Pacers were even able to win this game committing 18 turnovers and not being able to buy a bucket from three-point range. They were 6 of 22 from behind the arc. However, they were able to get to the foul line 24 times making 20 of them. Whereas, the Bulls only attempted 5 free throws all night making 100 percent of them.
Nate McMillan’s crew went 2-2 on the West Coast trip so they’ve got to be happy to be back home playing their next 5 of 7 games at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Up next is Orlando on Friday.