On February 5, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued to unfold, ushering in a civil war in the East, and the Bulls challenged the Pacers away. If the Bulls lose the game, they will lose the first place in the East. The Bulls showed good form from the start, taking a 40-point lead in the first quarter, but after the Pacers counterattacked and kept clinging to the score, at the critical moment, Daosum's two three-pointers the Bulls took a double-digit lead to establish the victory. In the end, the Bulls beat the Pacers 122-115.
The Bulls lost to the Raptors last time and lost again, losing the first place in the East, this time LaVine missing the game. However, the Bulls were not affected by the physical fitness at the beginning, and they shot down 40 points in a single quarter to take a seven-point lead; but after that, the Pacers launched a counterattack and kept clinging to the score, without letting the Bulls pull the point difference apart, and the Bulls led by 3 points in the half game. In the second half, the two teams were still in a tug-of-war, the Bulls could not open the point difference, the Pacers also failed to seize the opportunity to reverse the score, the Bulls still took the initiative under the leadership of DeRozan and Vucevic in the last quarter, and finally Dausum made two three-point shots to help the team take a double-digit lead, and the game lost suspense.
In this campaign, the Bulls did not have Lavin, but DeRozan and Vucevic performed very well, combining to score 69 points. Among them, Vucevic continued the fiery state of the previous game against the Raptors, this time playing 37 minutes, shooting 16 of 21, 1 of 2 three-pointers, and getting 36 points, 17 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks. Last game against the Raptors got 30 points and 18 rebounds, 2 consecutive games bombed 30 + 15 data, the state is very hot.
DeRozan's side is not very good, shooting 11 of 26, 9 of 9 from the free throw line, or 31 points plus 5 rebounds and 7 assists, but there are also 6 turnovers. DeRozan scored a career 19,000th career point in this game, surpassing Dale Ellis and Reggie Hughes to 61st in total NBA career points.
The Pacers also played well this time, in the absence of Brogdon, Sabonis Jr. and Turner, LeVert ushered in a big explosion, played 40 minutes, shooting 19 of 26, 3 of 3 three-pointers, 3 of 3 free throws, 42 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists, helpless to become an empty cut. Such a hot performance will also make the Pacers very happy and can attract more attention, after all, they want to complete the reconstruction, LeVert can also be traded.