The Bulls (11-15) achieved an exciting 120-112 victory over extra time over the Pacers (14-14) in Indiana on Monday night. A good victory over a good team.
Here are 15 observations:
1 Wendell Carter Jr. looked good on his return to action after a bruise-induced injury in an 11-game hips, starting and playing 21 minutes.
Although Billy Donovan warned before the game that Carter may take some time to catch his breath, he scored the Bulls’ first 4 points and ended the first half with 7 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist (3 turns) and a draw that the led to taking a sharp elbow to the chin. He seemed determined and physically ready.
Carter’s line ended: 11 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist (4 turnovers), 1 steal, 5 fouls and he contributed a solid defense against Domantas Sabonis. An encouraging performance.
two Stop us if you’ve heard this before: But it was a racing game. After the Bulls built a double-digit lead in the third quarter, Indiana almost reversed the situation with a 17-4 run over about five minutes, which turned 60-50 Bulls to 67-64 Pacers. The Bulls then responded to finish the table ahead of 79-70 … Followed by Pacers opening room 18-9 to tie the game 88-88 with 6:50 to play.
They went and returned from there, until they went into overtime with node 105-105, where the Bulls overtook the Pacers by 15-7.
3 – The Bulls closed the final two minutes and changed small, with Coby White, Zach LaVine, Garrett Temple, Denzel Valentine and Thad Young on the floor. That same unit ran for all OT.
4 LaVine nailed it, but finished with 30 points, his 13th game in a row with 20 or more and 12th 30 points of the season. Twelve of these points came in the fourth; in fact, he scored 12 of the Bulls’ last 14 in regulation, including this ridiculous setback over Sabonis to give the Bulls a one-point advantage with 27 seconds to play:
But after a stop, LaVine went 1-to-2 on the charity track, and Malcolm Brogdon equalized with 10.5 seconds remaining. LaVine missed an intermediate jump at the buzzer, sending the game into overtime.
5 A rare night off from a hopeful All-Star teammate in Sabonis, who finished with a respectable 25 points, 10 bags and 5 assists, but made a whopping 8 turns and hit 7 of 19 on the floor and 6 of 13 in the restricted area. Carter certainly helped on the defensive end in his minutes, but he lost a lot of rabbits.
6 The Pacers, as a team, shot just 20 to 37 in the restricted area and 26 to 51 in the overall painting. Even with the benefit of overtime, his 52 points in the painting were below the season’s average of 53.6, which started the day in third place in the NBA.
7 Thad Young played from the 4:35 mark of the third quarter with four fouls, never catching another. But he scored several offensive fouls and anchored the Bulls on both ends for crucial stretches with agitated moves and smart facilitation, ending the contest with 13 points, 11 rebounds (5 offensive), 4 assists and 2 steals – his 15th leader in the NBA direct game with a theft.
8 The Bulls’ bench ended with a 37-19 lead. Valentine made three 3s and Tomáš Satoranský’s sharp game continued with 13 points and 4 assists (he came into play with an average of 4.6 coins in just 18.6 minutes per game since returning from COVID-19).
9 Garrett Temple had his second consecutive game and made a myriad of timely moves, ending with 16 points (2 to 4 3P) and a maximum of +15 plus-minus.
10 In some ways, the Pacers’ size and physical advantage appeared. They finished with 14 blocked moves – 6 from Myles Turner – and a 31 to 22 lead in free throws.
But the Bulls scrapped admirably, accumulating a 60-47 lead on the glass, including 13 offensive bags that turned into 25 second chance points.
11 TJ McConnell, in particular, was a plague, ending with 3 steals, 2 blocks and an 8 to 9 shot from the field. He bothered Bulls’ ball handlers all night, although they did their best to limit the damage from their coughs; after allowing 25 Pacers points on 20 turnovers on December 26th, the Bulls allowed 15 points on 19 turnovers on this, while turning 19 Pacers turnovers into 21 own points.
12 White, in particular, was hampered by that pressure, committing 3 turnovers in the first half. But he secured possession of the ball for the rest of the contest, ending with 19 points, 8 assists and a series of timely buckets, even on an off-shot night.
13 Luke Kornet had 9 minutes of running at the central backup point, while Daniel Gafford registered a DNP. Donovan resorted to Kornet for the spare minutes in Carter’s absence, he said, because of Kornet’s ability to stretch opponents with a size advantage. But Kornet got 0 out of 5 on all clean looks.
14 Patrick Williams left the game after Jeremy Lamb fell awkwardly on his right leg in the middle of the second half. A slight start, but Williams checked moments later, promptly picking up the ball and leading to a layup attempt (which was blocked by Domantas Sabonis), blocking Malcolm Brogdon on the other end and then hitting a catch-and-shoot 3.
Williams fought most of the night, shooting 2 in 10 off the ground, but he managed 9 rebounds and receiving 10 shots was a source of pride for Donovan after the game, given how fervently the Bulls preached that Williams would be more aggressive offensively.
15 The win brings a ten-game losing streak to the Pacers for the Bulls and marks their first win at the Indiana since March 2016.
Next: Charlotte for a fight against the Hornets on Wednesday.
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