Despite controlling the game for three consecutive quarters, the Chicago Bulls rolled-off their tenth-straight loss by way of Victor Oladipo’s Pacers.
The Bulls rode into Indiana facing a bad hand; they’d lost nine straight and were facing a team who owns the eight spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Additionally, we can look at the Indiana Pacers squad wielding 7 wins in their last 10 games.
Despite a fairly good effort, Chicago failed to find their fourth win, without a notch in the plus column since November 17th.
Early in the action, the Bulls found themselves riding a hot start off the hand of Kris Dunn.
Continuing his first quarter success, Dunn scored or assisted on 20 of the first 25 Bulls basket. The Bulls took the first quarter 30-20, with Dunn scoring a strong 7 points. The guard had a very solid night as a whole, scoring 18 and looking in command of the Chicago offensive and defensive units.
Dunn, up to 16 points, hasn't just hit shots tonight. He has scored to slow Pacers' momentum several times.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) December 7, 2017
The second quarter led to more Bulls advantages, where they really had the Pacers in fits. While the Pacers had open looks but looked collectively flustered as it came to scoring the rock, much to the tune of their first quarter.
Indiana didn’t help their cause, as they allowed the Bulls to get to the stripe over and over again. However, the Bulls shot a poorly from the line, going 8-of-16 in the game. Despite the momentary lead, these misses would come back to haunt.
Yet, Chicago still commanded a healthy lead at the half, leading 55-39.
Despite the Pacers first half struggles, they really started to crack-away at the Bulls lead in the second half. In a shoot-out of a third quarter, the Pacers started to right their ship, winning the period 30-28.
Great defense leads to great offense! pic.twitter.com/vXE81D874Y
— Bulls Talk (@NBCSBulls) December 7, 2017
The play was neck-and-neck in the quarter, but the fourth quarter became all-Pacers. Missed shots began to mount, hitting an ugly, late dry spell to give Indiana life. Seemingly, there were no buckets on the floor left to sink after three solid quarters.
Suddenly, the Pacers hit an unbreakable hot streak at the 5:29 mark of the fourth as Thaddeus Young tipped in a miss. The Pacers trailed 92-83 but seemed very alive.
Lauri Markkanen‘s late struggles played a huge role in the Bulls loss, despite a solid effort. The rookie scored 11 points in the game, but went cold, going 0-of-3 in the fourth. Young stuffed Lauri’s lay-up at the 1:09 mark in the fourth, giving Indiana a ton of momentum.
After trading possessions, Victor Oladipo completed the Pacers’ fourth-quarter charge, hitting their go-ahead three. With just 31 seconds left and a totally cold Bulls’ offense, Indiana forced Markkanen into a bad look from three, cementing the Pacers’ 98-96 victory.
This, of course, was enough to sink the Bulls hopes of snapping their ugly, extended losing clip.
While the victory was in sight for Chicago, they couldn’t keep it up late, falling to 3-20 on the season. They’ll have the day off tomorrow before seeing the last team they beat, the Hornets, in Charlotte on Friday night.