On the night of Dec. 26, shooting guard Zach LaVine and the Chicago Bulls will try to notch their first win of the season against the Indiana Pacers.
The start to the regular season for the Chicago Bulls brightest star, 25-year-old 6-foot-6 shooting guard Zach LaVine, wasn’t his best performance. While LaVine did post a team-high 22 points in the Bulls regular season opener loss to the Atlanta Hawks back on Dec. 23 at home at the United Center, by the convincing final score of 124-104, he wasn’t very efficient in the process.
To go along with those 22 points that LaVine registered in the Bulls season opening loss to the Hawks, he registered two rebounds, one assist, one steal, no blocks, and a whopping five turnovers. And LaVine shot 9-of-19 from the field, an inefficient 1-of-8 from beyond the arc, and a perfect 3-of-3 from the free-throw line.
The thing with LaVine, though, is that he is a volume scorer. And with that will come the good performances with the bad. The problem for the Bulls in the loss to the Hawks was that both LaVine and second-year point guard Coby White both had down games in that outing.
LaVine definitely needs to turn the ball over less and shoot better from beyond the arc in their next game that happens at home again on Dec. 26. The Bulls get their divisional opener for the regular season at the United Center on Dec. 26, with tip off time set for 7 p.m. CT, against the Indiana Pacers. In fact, both LaVine and White need to turn the ball over less and shoot better from deep if the Bulls want to have a shot at upsetting the Pacers.
The good news for LaVine and the Bulls is that the former UCLA Bruin has played pretty well in his NBA career against the Pacers. In 12 career tries against the Pacers, LaVine was pretty efficient while putting up good per game stats.
And in those dozen outings against the Pacers in LaVine’s career (10 of which he started in), he averaged 20.2 points per game, 3.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 0.9 steals. LaVine shot 43.7 percent from the field, an efficient 41.6 percent from beyond the arc, and 87.8 percent from the free-throw line.
In three tries against the Pacers last season, LaVine was solid for the Bulls too. He averaged 28.0 points per game, five boards, and four assists, while shooting 44.6 percent from the field, 40.6 percent from beyond the arc, and 86.7 percent from the free-throw line.
If LaVine can show out against the Pacers on this night like he did last season in three outings, then the Bulls should be in good hands. White also needs to have a solid turnaround game if the Bulls are to have a chance to notch their first win of the season.
The Bulls are around five-point underdogs ahead of tip off against the Pacers at home on Dec. 26. This is the first of back-to-back games for the Bulls at home at the United Center, during this three game homestand to open the season, with the team taking on Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors on the night of Dec. 27.