Indiana Pacers down the mighty Chicago Bulls 95 – 90 – NBA Recap
The Indiana Pacers got one over the Chicago Bulls after a well contested game at the United Center. The Bulls were leading the Pacers after the first half but Indiana surged back into the game after the break and maintained their lead to get the win.
Pacers produced a solid team effort to overcome the Bulls in front of their home crowd. Forward Danny Granger scored the team high 22 points and also grabbed 9 boards. David West, who came over as a free agent from the New Orleans Hornets this offseason, had 14 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Darren Collison ran the offence with 11 points and 8 assists while centre Roy Hibbert scored 20 along with 8 boards.
Chicago Bulls super star Derrick Rose top scored in the game with 24 points but the point guard wasn’t as decisive as he would have wanted to be. His points came off 9-of-19 shooting from the floor while he could only manage 3 assists.
Richard Hamilton was wasteful, scoring 17 points while taking a whopping 20 shots. Ronnie Brewer was one player who produced an efficient display with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists.
Chicago would have wanted to assert themselves on their home turf early on but it was Indiana that started off well. They raced to a 10 – 5 advantage in the first quarter, which was eventually eaten away by the Bulls. At the end of the period, only one point separated the two sides, 24 – 23 to Indiana.
The Bulls came out firing in the second period. They had a 7 – 0 run to take the lead early. The Pacers fought back and restored their advantage only to see it usurped again. After a hectic quarter, Chicago emerged the stronger side, going into the break up by double digits at 54 – 44.
Indiana though weren’t going to be perturbed by the setback and launched into Chicago with renewed vigour after the interval. The third quarter saw the away team pile on 31 points as the Bulls were overrun, the period ending with the Pacers just ahead.
Indiana were able to hold onto their slight advantage in penultimate period as Chicago scored only 16. The scores were still very close until the end when Indiana got some quick points to finish at 95 – 90.
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