Game Rewind: Pacers 105, Bulls 113

The Chicago Bulls have been as decimated as any team in the NBA by the recent COVID-19 outbreaks across the league. The Bulls have had 13 players enter the NBA's health and safety protocols this month and had three games postponed.

Head coach Billy Donovan and three players (including starting point guard Lonzo Ball) entered the protocols over the weekend, but enough key pieces returned ahead of Sunday night to lift Chicago (20-10) to a 113-105 victory over the Pacers (14-20) at the United Center.

All five Pacers starters reached double figures in the loss, with Caris LeVert tallying a team-high 27 points and nine assists. But it wasn't enough to overcome their Central Division rivals, who own the second-best record in the Eastern Conference.

The Chicago duo of DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine, who entered the night as the fifth and sixth-leading scorers in the NBA respectively, combined for 56 points to lead the Bulls to victory.

LaVine, playing for the first time since Dec. 11 after clearing protocols earlier this week, scored a game-high 32 points while going 12-for-18 from the field and 5-for-9 from 3-point range and dishing out five assists. DeRozan added 24 points, going 9-for-20 from the field and 5-for-7 from the free throw line.

"I thought we had a poor first half and a very good second half," Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said after the loss. "That's not going to cut it against a team like Chicago with two stars. They got rolling. We just didn't do enough in the first half to keep them from getting going."

After sitting out Thursday's win over Houston with a sore right calf, All-Star forward Domantas Sabonis was back on the court for the Blue & Gold on Sunday. The big man made his presence known early, tallying seven points in as many minutes in his first shift of the night.

But it was the Bulls who led for most of the opening frame, going up 25-18 following Troy Brown Jr.'s 3-pointer with 3:55 remaining in the first quarter. The Pacers rallied to twice shrink the deficit to two, but Chicago closed the frame with two straight buckets to take a 33-27 advantage after one.

The hosts extended their lead at the start of the second quarter, hitting seven of their first 10 shots in the period as they opened the quarter with an 18-7 run. A short while later, LaVine's 3-pointer pushed the Bulls' lead to 18 at 54-36 with 4:22 remaining in the first half.

The Pacers were only able to trim three points off that deficit before halftime and trailed 63-48 at the intermission.

Rookie guard Chris Duarte gave the visitors a spark at the start of the second half. Duarte scored nine of Indiana's first 11 points in the third quarter, hitting a pair of a mid-range jumpers, a layup, and a three over the first 3:16.

"The first half, I was hesitating too much, second-guessing myself," Duarte said. "We went into the locker room, it gave me time to think about the mistakes I made, how I was playing. Came back out not hesitating and taking what the defense gave me."

Justin Holiday's layup at 8:07 trimmed the deficit to 71-61, but DeRozan answered with five straight points for Chicago.

The Bulls led 83-67 with just over three minutes left in the third quarter before the Pacers reeled off eight straight points in a 1:30 span to get within single digits. Indiana headed into the fourth quarter showing signs of life, trailing 87-79.

DeRozan scored six of the Bulls' first eight points in the final frame, pushing the lead back to 95-81 following his 21-foot jumper with 9:07 remaining in the game. Chicago extended its lead to as many as 15 points from there, but the Pacers mounted one final charge, cutting the deficit to 108-100 following LeVert's 3-pointer with 3:22 to play.

But after a timeout, LaVine hit a jumper and then added a layup on Chicago's next possession to put the game on ice.

Turner had 19 points, five rebounds, and two blocks for Indiana in the loss. Duarte added 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting and five rebounds, while Sabonis tallied 14 points, 16 boards, and five assists, but had just two points after halftime.

"I don't like to chalk it up to effort because I really think that we do well out there and we try, but we've got to try harder," Turner said. "To beat a team like this, you can't get out of the gates slow because then you're just fighting from behind the entire game."

Holiday was the fifth and final Pacer in double figures, scoring 10 points and going 2-for-4 from beyond the arc.

Nikola Vucevic had a double-double with 16 points and 15 rebounds for Chicago, while Javonte Green added 13 going 4-for-4 from the field and the free throw line.

The Pacers will return to Indianapolis to host Charlotte on Wednesday before a rematch with the Bulls at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on New Year's Eve.

LeVert scored 16 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter. He was just 4-for-14 from the field and 0-for-4 from 3-point range entering the final frame, but went 5-for-8 from the field and 3-for-6 from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter.

Sliding over to point guard for the second straight game with Malcolm Brogdon (sore right Achilles) out, LeVert had nine assists and has dished out 20 over his past two games. He had not had more than seven assists in a game prior to Thursday.

Sabonis tallied his 24th double-double of the season, tied with New Orleans' Jonas Valanciunas for the second-most in the NBA.

Indiana outscored Chicago 62-44 in the paint and 22-7 in fastbreak points.

The Pacers had just nine turnovers, while forcing the Bulls into 15 giveaways.

The Bulls shot 11-for-23 (47.8 percent from 3-point range), but Indiana was just 8-for-30 (26.7 percent) from beyond the arc.

"It felt like more a case of getting knocked back and then after halftime we responded well. But it can't be like that. We've got to have our disposition and posture where it needs to be. And it was all about defense." -Carlisle

"Keep going, keep playing through adversity. It's going to a be a lot of up and downs. They say it's a long season, that's something that I'm really trying to learn...having a short memory, just keep playing, keep learning." -Duarte on playing through the "rookie wall"

"Chris played great defense. That's what we ask him to do. We know he can score, but we challenge him to go out there and defend because that's what we need from him. It's just how the league works. Teams make an emphasis to go at rookies. I think some teams are trying to go at him at a sense." -Turner on Duarte's defensive effort

"We've got to keep focusing on process. We want to generate as many good catch-and-shoot threes as possible. That's been an emphasis really for the last several weeks." -Carlisle on the Pacers' recent struggles with 3-point shooting

The Bulls shot 56.6 percent from the field on Sunday, the highest field goal percentage allowed by the Pacers in any game this season.

The Pacers return to Gainbridge Fieldhouse to host Gordon Hayward and the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday, Dec. 29 at 7:00 PM ET. Find Tickets »   Star Wars Night »