Bulls-Pacers Preview

By JORDAN GARRETSON
Posted Feb 04 2013 12:32PM

The Indiana Pacers are one of the NBA's premier defensive squads. They've been particularly dominant at home this season, where they've strung together their biggest winning streak in 10 years.

Indiana can win its 14th straight home game on Monday night when it hosts the Chicago Bulls - the league's top road team that will again be short-handed - in a matchup of the East's two best defenses.

The 13-game winning streak at Bankers Life Fieldhouse is the longest for the Pacers since they won 14 in a row from Nov. 28, 2002-Jan. 26, 2003.

The Pacers (28-19) are 18-3 on their home floor. Their stingy defense is giving up 89.8 points per game but has been even better at home, limiting opponents to 86.9 points. Only one team - San Antonio - has scored in triple digits in regulation play at Indiana this season, and the Pacers have held 11 of their last 13 opponents there under 90 points.

They haven't lost at Bankers Life since a Dec. 7 defeat to Denver, and their win streak continued with Friday's 102-89 victory against the Heat.

"We want to be dominant at home, and we're getting there," coach Frank Vogel said.

Indiana's offense - still waiting for Danny Granger's return sometime before the All-Star break - has struggled at times, averaging 92.0 ppg. But the Pacers are averaging 100.3 on 46.8 percent shooting over their last four home contests, and shot a season-high 55.7 percent against Miami.

David West scored 30 points on 12-of-15 shooting, hitting 11 straight shots at one point. West has emerged as a more prominent force in his second season with Indiana, averaging 17.0 points this season after scoring 12.8 per game in 2011-12.

"He has a way of giving us contagious confidence," Vogel said. "He goes out there and he has that look in his eyes that kind of carries over to everyone else like we're not going to be beat tonight."

The Bulls (29-18) have a 14-7 mark outside the United Center and are the only team in the league with a better road record than at home. Saturday's 93-76 win at Atlanta was their seventh in their last nine road games, though they did it with Kirk Hinrich, Carlos Boozer and first time All-Star Joakim Noah all out due to injuries.

Hinrich is expected to miss a week after having an infection cleaned out of his right elbow in Chicago on Saturday. Boozer is day-to-day with a right hamstring injury, though coach Tom Thibodeau said he could play in this game. Noah said before Monday's shootaround that he did not expect to play due to plantar fasciitis in his right foot.

The Bulls' defense, allowing 90.6 points per game, has held nine straight opponents under 94. Luol Deng tallied 25 points and 14 rebounds Saturday, while Nate Robinson chipped in 20 points. Taj Gibson supplied 19 points and a career-high 19 rebounds, stepping up significantly in the absence of Noah and Boozer.

"I just went out there and did my job," Gibson told the team's official website. The fourth-year forward is averaging 7.6 points and 5.3 rebounds in 21.9 minutes. " ... The guys believe in me. They know what I can do. I did this when Carlos and Jo went down in the past."

Chicago will look to take better care of the basketball this time as after committing 19 turnovers in an 80-76 home loss to Indiana on Dec. 4. Paul George scored a career-high 34 points for the Pacers.

Monday's game is a makeup for a contest originally scheduled for Dec. 26, but was canceled because of a blizzard. It sets the Pacers up for the first game of the only back-to-back-to-back stretch in the NBA this season as they host Atlanta on Tuesday and travel to Philadelphia on Wednesday.

Pacers tie up Bulls in Central with 111-101 win

By MICHAEL MAROT
Posted Feb 04 2013 10:59PM

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Indiana suddenly has a shooting touch to go with its tough defense.

The combination is just too much.

David West scored 29 points Monday night and All-Star Paul George finished with 21 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, leading the Pacers past Chicago 111-101 for a 14th consecutive home win and into a tie with the Bulls for the Central Division lead.

"We're just playing together, every game I feel like we're playing sharper," West said. "We still need to pick it up defensively, we're slipping in that regard, but in terms of the offense and how we're moving the ball and what we're looking for, it's just game-by-game improvement."

It shows.

Three nights after shooting a season-high 55.7 percent in a relatively easy win over defending NBA champion Miami, Indiana shot 52.7 percent against a Bulls defense that is ranked No. 2 in the NBA in defensive field goal percentage. The only team ahead of the Bulls is the Pacers, and Indiana never trailed in the second half Monday.

Indiana has topped the 100-point mark four times in the last five games after doing that only seven times in the first 43. It was the Pacers' highest point total in a non-overtime game all season, and the timing couldn't have been better as they head into a three games-in-three night swing. They are the only NBA team to deal with that this season.

Now the Pacers will take a three-game winning streak into Tuesday night's home game against Atlanta as they try to win a 15th consecutive home game for the first time since 1999-2000 when they won 25 in a row. On Wednesday, they visit Philadelphia.

Indiana's recent surge has it tied for the division lead with Chicago (29-19) and behind only Miami (30-14) and New York (31-15) in the Eastern Conference playoff chase.

Over the past month, the Pacers have beaten Miami twice and New York and Chicago once each, going 4-0 mark against the East's three other top teams since Jan. 8 and they now have a 2-0 series lead over the Bulls, the league's best road team.

"We played the No. 1 team in Miami and New York and Chicago is right there, and this is a big win for us, definitely playing against a division team," George Hill said. "So I'm happy with our ballclub, we played a great game."

The Bulls didn't look like themselves, though.

Starting guards Derrick Rose (left knee) and Kirk Hinrich (right elbow) and starting center Joakim Noah (right foot) all sat out again with injuries, and they had another scare late in the first quarter when Marco Belinelli crashed to the floor clutching his right ankle. He returned later and finished with a season-high 24 points. Nate Robinson finished with 19 points, nine assists and five rebounds, and Carlos Boozer had 10 points and five rebounds as he returned from a right hamstring injury.

All of those players, other than Belinelli and Robinson, missed Saturday's 93-76 victory at Atlanta.

"I feel like we're short-handed right now, but we're competing hard and that's all you can ask for and I feel like our best basketball is yet to come," Noah said. "We've just got to keep fighting and I think we'll be all right."

Those expecting a defensive slugfest were in for a surprise.

Indiana started the game fast, making its first six shots to take a 13-2 lead, and finished the first half nearly as fast, using a 12-6 run to break a 48-48 tie to make it 60-54 at the half. The Pacers shot 66.7 percent from the field in the half.

Chicago had seven players in double figures and continually challenged Indiana, but never had control and couldn't even forge a tie over the final 27 1/2 minutes.

Robinson opened the second half with a 3-pointer and a 20-foot jumper to close the deficit to 60-59, but a few minutes later, Indiana seized control with two quick scoring flurries.

The first came when George hit a 3-foot jumper, Lance Stephenson then completed a three-point play and Hill added a four-point play to make it 73-63 with 7:35 left in the third. Chicago answered with four straight points, and Indiana came right back with six straight to take a 79-67 lead.

"We started the game in a big hole and we had to get out of that hole," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. "Now you're scrambling and trying to give yourself a chance. I thought we were in position with five minutes to go."

Chicago rallied again in the fourth, using an 8-0 run to close to 90-84, and it got as close as four three times.

Indiana finally sealed it with a 3 from George and two free throws from West with 1:05 to play.

"I'm proud of the way we're growing on the offensive end," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. "Still a few too many turnovers, but we've made a commitment to the extra pass. When the ball is moving, we're too many weapons to be as poorly efficient as we have been."

NOTES: It was Indiana's first regular-season home win over Chicago since March 18, 2011. ... The Bulls are 6-20 all-time at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. ... Bulls guard Marquis Teague finished with two points in his first pro appearance in his hometown. ... The Bulls lost for only the third time in nine games.

• Bulls: Hinrich, Rose
• Pacers: Granger, Plumlee

• Bulls: Hamilton
• Pacers: --

• Lead Changes: 4
• Times Tied: 5

• Arena: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
• Officials: #24 Mike Callahan, #29 Mark Lindsay, #23 Jason Phillips
• Attendance: 18165
• Duration: 2:16