Bulls at Pacers
The Indiana Pacers are home from a five-game trip and are set to get a big lift when star guard Victor Oladipo makes his season debut against the visiting Chicago Bulls on Wednesday. Oladipo has been out since suffering a ruptured quad tendon last January and has been participating in full court practices for the last two weeks.
The Pacers will have a minutes restriction in place for Oladipo, who averaged 23.1 points during an All-Star campaign in 2017-18 and put up 18.8 points in 36 games before suffering the injury last season. Oladipo will be fitting himself into an Indiana squad that enters Tuesday tied for fifth in the Eastern Conference and features a balanced attack that boasts seven players averaging in double figures in scoring, led by T.J. Warren (18.2 points) and Domantas Sabonis (18.1). The Bulls don't have that kind of balance on the offensive end and instead lean heavily on guard Zach LaVine, who is making his own All-Star push while averaging 25.2 points. LaVine scored 14 of his 23 points in the final quarter on Monday, including a pair of free throws with 2.1 seconds left, to lift Chicago to a 110-109 home triumph over the San Antonio Spurs.
TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: NBCS Chicago, FS Indiana
ABOUT THE BULLS (19-30): Chicago won its last two games and three of four behind LaVine, who followed up a 44-point, 10-rebound, eight-assist effort in Saturday's win at Cleveland with Monday's fourth-quarter heroics. The Bulls are looking for secondary scoring to compliment LaVine with forward Lauri Markkanen (pelvis) expected out until at least March and got a solid effort on Monday from reserve guard Denzel Valentine, who scored 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting in 19 minutes. Valentine has drifted in and out of coach Jim Boylen's rotation this season and had not scored in double figures since posting 10 points in a loss at Oklahoma City on Dec. 16.
ABOUT THE PACERS (30-17): Indiana is also hoping to have point guard Malcolm Brogdon, who missed the final two games of the road trip with a concussion, to pair with Oladipo in the backcourt on Wednesday. The Pacers were on the verge of a 4-1 trip before the defense dropped off in a 139-129 loss at Portland on Sunday but still came away feeling positive. "Absolutely, absolutely, I said to all of our guys 'good road trip,' it was a good road trip for us," Indiana coach Nate McMillan told reporters. "We had an opportunity to make it an even better road trip going four and one, but three and two, we'll take that. We’ve done some good things, played good basketball on this road trip, and we'll take three and two."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Pacers C Myles Turner (illness) sat out Sunday and is day-to-day.
2. Bulls PF Thaddeus Young scored in double figures in each of the last three games while starting in place of Markkanen.
3. Indiana is enjoying a seven-game winning streak in the series and took the two previous meetings this season by an average of 12 points.