Bulls at Pacers
The Chicago Bulls fired Fred Hoiberg as coach of the struggling team and Jim Boylen will run the squad when they visit the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday. Hoiberg went 115-155 in three-plus seasons as coach but the club is a disastrous 5-19 this season.
The Bulls have dropped a season-worst six straight games and 10 of their last 11 and executive vice president of basketball operations John Paxson felt a move needed to be made. "Decisions like this one are never easy to make, however I felt this was the right choice for our organization at this time," Paxson said in a statement on Monday. "After a thorough evaluation, I elected to make this move with the overall development of our team in mind. As a team, I believe it is imperative that we make unfaltering strides in the right direction and build the right habits to help put our players in the best position to evolve not only now, but into the future." Meanwhile, Indiana has dropped four of its last six games after Sunday's 111-110 road loss to the Sacramento Kings. The Pacers will be without star shooting guard Victor Oladipo (knee) for the eighth consecutive game.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBCS Chicago, FS Indiana
ABOUT THE BULLS (5-19): Second-year power forward Lauri Markkanen (elbow) made his season debut in Saturday's 121-105 road loss to the Rockets and had 10 points and four rebounds in 26 minutes. Markkanen missed more than two months due to his preseason injury and was certainly trying to shake the rust off as he was just 4-of-14 shooting. "I missed some easy shots, but I think I played some decent defense, and that’s where I tried to make an impact," Markkanen told reporters. "I’m not worried about my shots. I just have to get my legs back."
ABOUT THE PACERS (13-10): Small forward Bojan Bogdanovic scored 27 points in the loss to Sacramento and has tallied at least 20 in six of the past 10 games. Bogdanovic has picked up some of the scoring slack with Oladipo sidelined and he took the possible game-winning attempt against the Kings on Saturday but the shot rimmed out with 4.6 seconds remaining. Point guard Darren Collison registered season bests of 12 assists and six steals along with 11 points against Sacramento and he has topped 10 assists in three of the past four games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Pacers overcame an 18-point, first-half deficit to post a 107-105 victory in Chicago on Nov. 2.
2. Bulls F Jabari Parker recorded 21 points and 12 rebounds against the Rockets for his fourth double-double in the past seven games.
3. Indiana backup SF Doug McDermott averaged 16.5 points during the four-game road trip while making 11-of-17 3-point shots.