This rivalry between the Indiana Pacers and the Chicago Bulls has resulted in some entertaining games between the two. Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose both haven't forgot about the loss to the pacers at home on January 25th earlier this year after over hearing the Pacers celebrate in their locker room. As close as this game could potentially be, the Bulls are probably the best revenge team in the league. As far as statistics go, these teams are evenly matched. The Pacers shoot the 3 ball at 37% and the Bulls at 38%, Pacers turn the ball over at an average of 14.7 per game to the Bulls' 14.0 per game. The Pacers also average 8.3 steals a game to the Bulls' 7.3, and the Pacers rebound 44.5 a game to the Bulls' 45.6. When the Pacers beat the Bulls at the United Center, part of that was due to the injury of Luol Deng. Luol Deng defends the perimeter and is a good defender guarding slashers and cutters. Luol Deng is also another threat on offense to take some focus off of Derrick Rose, and he's also been playing at a high level since the all star break. The biggest factor here is the revenge factor. Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose are motivated for this game, and I see Chicago winning the game outright and also covering the spread.
Result: After avenging their first loss to Philadelphia this past Sunday, the best revenge team in the league went at the Pacers today to avenge their loss at home to Indiana. This game started off back and forth, the typical Pacers-Bulls pace that we see in these exciting games. Indiana was up 1 (43-42) by the end of the 1st half. The Bulls struggled on the offensive side in the 1st half, but exploded in the 3rd led by Luol Deng. The Bulls scored 3 consecutive 3 pointers after the Pacers crawled to a deficit of 4 points. The Bulls also dominated the rebounding out rebounding the Pacers 60-32. The Bulls had 18 offensive rebounds to the Pacers 7 and held the Pacers to 3/16 (18.8%) from long range. The Bulls shot the ball well from the outside going 9/15 shooting it at 60%. Luol Deng led the way for the Bulls scoring 20 points with 6 boards and 4 assists. Rip Hamilton left the game in the 1st quarter after getting a bump on the shoulder by Paul George. Rip Hamilton is becoming more of a liability to the team, but as long as Ronnie Brewer is playing well the Bulls should be fine. Off the bench Ronnie Brewer contributed 12 points and 7 boards, John Lucas filling in for C.J. Watson who had a sprained ankle had 13 points, and Taj Gibson had 10 points and 9 boards. The only players who played well for the Pacers today was Paul George who had 21 points and George Hill who had 17 off the bench. The Bulls are now 2.5 games ahead of Miami in the east at 1st. The Bulls have two good big men in Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah who grabbed 17 boards today, two quality front court players in Luol Deng and Ronnie Brewer and Taj Gibson, C.J. Watson and John Lucas all hold their own on the court when the starters are on the bench. Chicago wins the game by 20 points 92-72 and I bet Joakim Noah is out somewhere showing the Pacers how to really celebrate.
Joakim Noah celebrating.
12-4-1
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