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Game Rewind: Pacers 108, Bulls 102

Game Rewind

After falling short in Milwaukee, the Pacers (38-25) bounced back in a big way against the Chicago Bulls (21-42) on Friday night. With a limited lineup, the Blue & Gold took home a 108-102 victory at United Center for the third win on their five-game road trip, and their ninth-straight regular season win over the Bulls.

Missing Malcolm Brogdon, T.J. Warren, and Doug McDermott, Indiana found success using the “next man up” mentality. Two-way player Brian Bowen II earned the first career start in his NBA career, while Edmond Sumner and JaKarr Sampson played significant minutes as well. Both Sumner and Sampson finished in double figures.

When the Bulls made a late run, it was the Holiday brothers and the defense that sealed the win. After a 14-4 Bulls run with 4:54 to play, the defense then held Chicago scoreless for the next 3:36. Justin Holiday’s spectacular swat aided the scoreless streak, while Aaron sealed the game late at the free throw line.

Domantas Sabonis finished with a team-high 24 points and 12 boards, grabbing his franchise record-tying 49th double-double of the season. Victor Oladipo added 16, while Myles Turner finished with 15 and eight boards. Sampson and Sumner finished with 14 and 12 apiece off the bench. Sumner also finished with a career-high five assists.

It was another sluggish start for Indiana, as Chicago tallied 10 unanswered points, to take an early 10-2 lead over the Blue & Gold with 9:09 to play in the first.

However, after a timeout, the Pacers responded with seven straight to quickly close the gap. A Myles Turner putback slam trimmed the Bulls’ lead to 10-9 with 7:54 to play.

The game mutated into a contested battle, as neither team found a way to pull away. With 4:51 to play, Oladipo drilled his second three of the period. Turner then followed with a free throw to grab an 18-16 lead. But former Pacer Thaddeus Young and Otto Porter Jr teamed up to put Chicago back on top 21-18 with 3:21 to go.

But, the Pacers’ makeshift bench was able to grab a multi-possession lead before the quarter came to a close. With Chicago leading 23-20, Sampson and Sumner then scored a combined nine unanswered points. With 34.0 seconds remaining, Sumner drilled a triple from the left baseline to give Indiana a 29-23 lead.

A hot start from deep early in the second extended the lead for the Blue & Gold. T.J. McConnell, Justin Holiday, and Sumner all found buckets from beyond the arc to Increase Indiana’s lead to 40-31 with 9:14 left in the second.

Despite Chicago keeping the game within single digits, the Blue & Gold remained steadily in front for the next few minutes. Indiana continued to find success driving into the paint against the less-physical Chicago front court. Turner, Justin Holiday, Oladipo, and Sumner all found layups as part of a 9-4 Pacers spurt that gave them a 49-42 lead with 4:11 to go.

Sumner continued his impressive half, teaming up with Sabonis for back-to-back layups to provide Indiana its first double-digit advantage, 53-42, with 2:33 left in the half.

As the half closed, Sampson added to his season-long highlight dunk reel. As Oladipo dribbled on the floor, the big man cut to the bucket from the left baseline. Sampson snagged the pass and finished a reverse, right-handed flush to give Indiana a 57-44 lead with 1:40 to play. 37 seconds later, Sampson powered home another slam off a Sumner dish. The Pacers then closed out the final minute swiftly and smoothly, and headed to the locker room with a comfortable 62-46 lead.

An 8-2 run to start the third pushed the Blue & Gold’s lead over the 20-point mark with 9:43 left in the frame on a pair of Turner free throws. The Pacers defense held Chicago to just six points over the first 5:42 of the third.

With the defense clamping down, the Blue & Gold held its 20+ point lead for most of the quarter. Chicago finally cut the lead down to 75-56 on a pair of Coby White free throws with 5:46 to play.

In the late stages of the third, the Bulls managed to trim Indiana’s lead down to 14 on four separate occasions. But with less than a minute remaining, Wendell Carter Jr. was assessed a technical foul for arguing with a referee about his shooting foul on Sampson. Justin Holiday sank the technical free throw, while Sampson connected on both his attempts to push Indiana’s lead up to 89-72 before the quarter expired.

The Blue & Gold kept a healthy double digit lead early in the fourth. Sabonis provided the highlight on the offensive end, catching a pass and spinning around the seven-foot Lauri Markkanen for an easy layup to earn a 95-76 lead with 9:43 to play.

However, Chicago began to close the gap soon after. After Sabonis’ spin-and-in, the Bulls pieced together an 8-2 run that cut the Pacers’ lead to 97-84 with 7:30 to play. McConnell quickly ended the spree by surprising Valentine with his signature low-block turnaround jumper over him to push Indiana’s lead back up to 15.

But the Bulls continued to climb back. After McConnell’s jumper, Shaquille Harrison drilled back-to-back threes from the left wing in a 36-second span to cut Indiana’s lead to single digits, 99-92 with 4:54 to go.

But Chicago didn’t score for the next 3:36.

A pair of Turner free throws pushed Indiana’s lead to nine. Then, the Pacers’ defense withstood a Bulls possession that included four offensive rebounds, giving up zero points and coming up with a steal.

With 1:30 to go, Oladipo banked in a jumper from the right side to give the Pacers a 103-92 lead, nearly sealing it. But White then responded on the other end with a three-point play.

On the next Indiana possession, Young picked Oladipo’s pocket. Harrison collected the outlet pass and aimed to trim Indiana’s lead to six.

However, Justin Holiday had other ideas.

The key role player rushed back and swatted his layup away with 54.3 seconds remaining.

With 40.6 seconds to play, White drilled a baseline three to cut Indiana’s lead to 104-98. However, young Aaron Holiday remained cool at the charity stripe under pressure, sinking four consecutive free throws to make Indiana’s lead insurmountable at last.

Inside The Numbers

30 of Indiana’s 62 first-half points came off the bench. All 12 of Sumner’s points came in the first half.

Indiana finished the game shooting 38-of-75 (50.7 percent) from the floor tonight. They are now 17-5 in games in which they’ve shot at least 50 percent from the field.

JaKarr Sampson tied his season high with 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting. He also notched five rebounds and three assists, finishing with a +7 rating.

Chicago’s Shaquille Harrison dropped a career-high 25 points on 9-14 (64.3 percent) shooting from the field and 5-6 (83.3 percent) shooting from beyond the arc.

Stat of the Night

With his double-double tonight, Domantas Sabonis is now tied with Troy Murphy for the most double-doubles in a single season in Pacers NBA franchise history. He has 19 remaining chances to beat Murphy’s record.

Noteworthy

  • The Pacers swept the season series against Chicago for the second straight season. This is the first time since the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons that they’ve accomplished this feat
  • Pacers forward Doug McDermott missed his first game of the season tonight due to a sprained toe.
  • Victor Oladipo has scored in double figures in seven of his last eight appearances.

You Can Quote Me On That

"Continue to believe in each other, trust each other, and work together. I think if you take that approach you come and work hard, you're going to give yourself a chance to win. These guys did that again tonight, Brian [Bowen II] stepping in starting for us for the first time, Aaron [Holiday] having to step in to lead the team and Ed [Edmond Sumner] came in off the bench and gave us a lot of energy… all of our guys. Solid game, a solid win tonight." – Pacers head coach Nate McMillan on the game tonight

“At the end of the day, just come in and be yourself. I think Brian [Bowen II], Ed [Edmond Sumner], JaKarr [Sampson], Aaron [Holiday], those guys just came in and were themselves. They played hard. Especially defensively. And they did what they do best. At the end of the day, we are a very talented group and our depth is one of our strengths. It’s no surprise to me that guys came in, and stepped up, and played well tonight. We’ve just got to continue to build on it. They’ve got to continue to improve, we all have to continue to improve. We all have to get healthy. Then we can do some special things.” – Victor Oladipo on missing so many guys

Tickets

After a five-game road trip, the Pacers return to Bankers Life Fieldhouse to host Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics on Tuesday, March 10 at 7:00 PM ET. Find Tickets »

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