Preview: Bulls at Pacers

[December 29, 2014]  The Chicago Bulls are winners of six straight games and are asserting themselves as one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. The Indiana Pacers, who occupied one of those spots at the top of the East last season, will try to slow the Bulls when they host them on Monday. Chicago can win by dominating in the frontcourt with Pau Gasol, Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson or by turning things over to Jimmy Butler and Derrick Rose in the backcourt.

“We’ve asked everyone to sacrifice for the team first,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters. “Whatever is going to give us our chance at winning that is what we are going to do.” The Pacers used a similar system to get to the Eastern Conference Finals last season but have been decimated by injuries and are just recently beginning to turn things around. Indiana played one of its most complete games in a 110-85 win at Brooklyn on Saturday as seven players scored in double figures.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, WGN (Chicago), FSN Indiana

ABOUT THE BULLS (21-9): Butler’s rapid improvement and Rose’s return from injury gives Chicago a dynamic one-two scoring punch at the end of games. The Bulls are also getting production off the bench, and rookie forward Nikola Mirotic is averaging 13.8 points while shooting 61.9 percent from beyond the arc in the last five games. “Niko's a stud,” Noah told the team’s website. “He brings just a whole new dimension. Pau's a beast as well. We're loaded up front. Every night, I think it's going to be different. Everybody has to be ready. Everybody has to play for the team. I think if we have that mentality, it's on.”

ABOUT THE PACERS (11-20): Point guard George Hill sat out the first 28 games with a knee injury but has helped guide the team to wins in two of three games since his return. The Indiana native came off the bench in his first two games as the team monitored his minutes but returned to the starting lineup on Saturday and collected 12 points, six rebounds and five assists in 23 minutes. “Slowly yet surely, hopefully we can string together some more wins,” center Roy Hibbert told reporters. “I just think we're getting more bodies back and we'll be better.”

BUZZER BEATERS

1. The Pacers shot 50 percent or better from the field in each of the last four games after failing to hit the mark in any of their first 27 contests.

2. Bulls G Kirk Hinrich (hamstring) has missed three straight games and is day-to-day.

3. Indiana earned a 99-90 win in Chicago on Nov. 15 and has taken six of the last nine in the series.

PREDICTION: Bulls 104, Pacers 92

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