Field Level Media
Mar 6, 2020
Domantas Sabonis scored 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, and the Indiana Pacers held on for a 108-102 win over the host Chicago Bulls on Friday night.
Victor Oladipo finished with 16 points for the Pacers, while Myles Turner contributed 15. Indiana completed a four-game sweep of the Bulls during the regular season and won for the fifth time in its past six games.
Coby White led the Bulls with 26 points off the bench. Shaquille Harrison added 25 points on 9-for-14 shooting for Chicago, which lost for the 12th time in its past 14 games.
Trailing 97-80 four minutes into the fourth quarter, the Bulls went on a 12-2 run to slice the deficit to 99-92 with 4:54 remaining. Harrison capped the run with a 3-pointer off a feed from White.
Indiana head coach Nate McMillan called timeout to stop the Bulls' momentum at that point. The plan worked as the Pacers came out of the break with four straight points to extend the lead back to 11 with 1:30 to go.
Chicago never got closer than six points the rest of the way.
The Pacers' lead ballooned to as many as 23 points during the third quarter. Oladipo dished a pass to Sabonis, who finished with a layup to put Indiana on top 75-52 with 6:44 remaining in the session.
Indiana led 62-46 at the half, as Sabonis (14 points), Edmond Sumner (12) and Oladipo (11) each provided double-digit scoring for the Pacers before the break.
The Bulls actually grabbed a 10-2 lead to start the game, with Denzel Valentine and Harrison each draining a 3-pointer and Tomas Satoransky punctuating the run with a dunk off a steal by teammate Lauri Markkanen.
Indiana regrouped, however, and led 29-25 after the first quarter.
The Bulls were outscored 33-21 in the second quarter as Turner made a jump shot to kick off a 9-0 run late in the quarter that doubled Indiana's lead from nine points to 18.
Pacers guard Malcolm Brogdon did not play because of a sore left hip that he sustained Wednesday night against the Milwaukee Bucks.
--Field Level Media