Field Level Media
Jan 6, 2018
After missing four games with a sore right knee, Victor Oladipo showed no signs of rustiness in scoring 23 points in 23 minutes to lead the Indiana Pacers to a 125-86 rout of the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night in Indianapolis.
Oladipo, who hit 9 of 11 shots, also had nine assists, five steals and six rebounds as the Pacers (20-19) snapped a five-game losing streak.
"We did a great job staying together and setting the tone and we've got to do that every night," Oladipo told Fox Sports Indiana.
Domantas Sabonis scored 22 on 9-of-12 shooting off the bench for Indiana.
The Pacers, who led by as many as 41 points in the fourth quarter. got other major contributions from the bench with rookie T.J. Leaf (15 points), Joe Young (11 points) and Cory Joseph (team-high 10 rebounds).
The Bulls, who beat Dallas 127-124 on Friday night, looked like a tired team on the second night of a back-to-back.
Chicago (14-26) made just 30 of 80 shots (37.5 percent). Bobby Portis came off the bench to lead Chicago with 15 points. Denzel Valentine and Lauri Markkanen each had 13 points. Justin Holiday was limited to six points on 2-of-14 shooting.
Indiana hit 15 of 20 shots in the third quarter to expand a halftime lead of 64-37 to 101-67 after three quarters. The Pacers hit 48 of 86 shots (55.8 percent) overall.
Veteran Damien Wilkins started in place of Bojan Bogdanovic, who was out with an Achilles heel injury. It was Wilkins' first start with the Pacers and he finished with 11 points
Pacers coach Nate McMillan decided to start Wilkins instead of Lance Stephenson, so Stephenson could return to his regular role off the bench.
Oladipo hit 4 of 5 shots en route to nine points in the first quarter as the Pacers led 31-26.
The Pacers outscored the Bulls 33-11 in the second quarter. Indiana hit 25 of 48 shots in the first half while Chicago was 14 of 40 from the field.
--Field Level Media