The Indiana Pacers need to win and score points as much as they can if they want to avoid the play-in tournament
Indiana has recently been propelled by Pascal Siakam’s steady hand. In the team’s first four games of a five-game trip trip, he has scored at least 25 points, assisting the Pacers in their 3-1 record during that time.
The Pacers will need Siakam to keep up the positive attitude that helped him score 31 points in Monday’s 133-116 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers if they hope to finish the trip with further success on Wednesday against the Chicago Bulls.
“It’s whatever’s available,” Siakam declared. “I believe that becoming a three-level player is something to be proud of, undoubtedly. They performed a respectable job of preventing me from getting to the rim, so I snapped the available pictures and am satisfied with them. It will appear fantastic every night. All you need to do is own that energy.”
As of Tuesday, Indiana (41-32) was ranked sixth in the East. The play-in tournament is contested by the Nos. 7–10 seeds.
The Atlanta Hawks are one and a half games ahead of the Bulls (34–38) in ninth place in the conference.
The Pacers and Bulls are both aware that in order to hold onto their respective postseason places, they will need to play aggressively in the last stretch. Myles Turner of Indiana practiced that on Monday. He shot just 4-for-15 from outside the arc in his four games prior to traveling to Los Angeles, but he went 4-of-6 from beyond the arc against the Lakers and Clippers. Turner remarked, “I work on my shot too much not to trust it,” after going up for 24 points against the Clippers. “My teammates gave me a lot of energy.” I was being ran plays by coaches. That only makes things simpler.” Chicago will want to win the season series against Indiana in order to snap a three-game losing run.
Prior to the Bulls’ 132-129 overtime victory against the Pacers on March 13, the clubs shared their first two meetings, with DeMar DeRozan scoring 46 points for the Bulls. Twelve lead changes occurred in the fourth quarter.
The Bulls had won four of their previous six games before losing their next four. The triumph ended that streak. Chicago’s losing streak was extended on Monday as they fell 107-105 at home to the Washington Wizards, who had the second-fewest victories in the NBA. Washington was without several key contributors including four starters, leaving the Bulls to bemoan a missed opportunity.
“We shouldn’t drop games like this right now. We’re resilient, but we can’t live on the edge every single game,” DeRozan said. “We’ve got to leave it out there these last 10 games. We can’t have no more excuses. Play like your life depends on it; simple as that. It (stinks) because all these games matter. You want to be playing good basketball towards this part of the season.
“In the circumstance we are under, everything matters so much more. We’ve got to be more desperate. Not just the beginning of the game, but every single game here on out.”
DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in five straight games against Indiana. The Bulls have won two of the past three season series against the Pacers.
