Chicago Bulls at Indiana Pacers: Game Analysis

The Chicago Bulls visited their Indiana neighbors for the second game of the preseason, but the hosts sent them away empty handed, 115-108, despite a monster performance from Spencer Dinwiddie.

The Bulls are now 0-2, but this is the preseason so that doesn’t matter too much. What’s more important is the development of the team.

Both teams were clicking on the offensive end of the court from the tip, scoring 33 points each in the first quarter. The Bulls offensive boost had a lot to do with Rajon Rondo and Doug McDermott. Rondo is generally regarded as a facilitator, but it was his ability to slide into the lane for layups that helped him push Chicago up the scoreboard. Meanwhile, McDermott’s shooting was red-hot early on.

In a scene that would give both Tom Thibodeau and Frank Vogel nightmares, the scoring didn’t let up in the second quarter. The Bulls took a slight advantage into halftime, thanks to a coast-to-coast Rondo run and shoot to beat the buzzer. Halftime score – Bulls lead 67-65.

McDermott started 3-for-3, all from 3-point range, but failed to convert after that. He was coming off of screens with an incredible amount of speed. Rondo was the highlight of the first half, scoring 14 points on 6-for-6 shooting. There wasn’t much to be seen from Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler as both players saw extremely limited time on the floor.

The third quarter looked a lot like the Bulls-Pacers game you might expect to see during the season as the air came out of the ball and the scoring dropped significantly. Chicago really suffered during the middle of the quarter, allowing Indiana to go on a 11-0 run which put the Pacers up 76-71.

The game remained close, however, as the two teams continued to trade baskets throughout the second half. With the Bulls starters retired for the evening, it was a great opportunity to see what the Chicago bench had to offer.

One of the bench highlights was getting to see Paul Zipser for the first time. He looked very good, doing next to nothing wrong, even if his shots were occasionally off line. His performance made a second consecutive dud from Nikola Mirotic look even worse.

Everything was eclipsed by the performance of Spencer Dinwiddie. It didn’t take much for him to play Jerian Grant off the court and take his minutes. With Denzel Valentine absent with injury, there was an opening and Dinwiddie seized the moment. He grabbed over 23 minutes of time on the court, shooting 9-for-13 from the field for 19 points, six rebounds and two assists. He also had zero turnovers, which is five less than Rondo had in tonight’s game.

Vine Time

Some very encouraging interaction between Portis and Butler:

Wade steal, transition oop to Portis:

Two of Dinwiddie’s 19 points, finished through contact:

Air up there block from Zipser:

The Bulls also trotted out Felicio for a few minutes, but if Mirotic continues to bomb his performances, the #FreeFelicio hashtags will start flying. Stay with us here at Pippen Ain’t Easy as we will have more in-depth analysis on this game and what it means.