The Chicago Bulls and the Indiana Pacers had some nice battles last season in the Central division and now the two teams will face off in an anticipated game on Wednesday on ESPN and the game will start up at 7:00 pm from Bankers Life Fieldhouse and will be a matchup of two of the best teams in the East and it will stream on WatchESPN and on ESPN Radio.
The Bulls have been off to a sluggish start with the return of star Derrick Rose to the lineup and while he has been off his game, he could finally get back on track Wednesday before another tough game at home against the Utah Jazz at the United Center on Friday. The Bulls are coming off of a loss to the upstart Sixers, who, despite being considered the worst team in the league is leading their division and now the Bulls need to try and pull together to get things on track. The Pacers have been as good as anyone over the past couple seasons and one reason has been the talent with the franchise, as they have players like Paul George, Roy Hibbert and David west and they also traded for Luis Scola and they have done all this the past year without All-Star Danny Granger in the fold, as he has been banged up.
Check here for the Radio stream from ESPN for the Chicago Bulls and the Indiana Pacers.
The Bulls come into the game ranked Michael Jordan's number in the league in points per game at 23 and they are also allowing nearly 100 points per contest this season, which is higher than last year when they were one of the best defensive teams in the league. Those numbers will likely even out once more games are played, but it's not the start the team wanted, although they have been hitting the boards well with them ranking fifth in the NBA. The Pacers are the top ranked defensive team in the league right now and they are averaging 95 points on offense and after playing against the Chicago Bulls they will host the Toronto Raptors on Friday night at 7 pm.
Lance Stephenson is a player that will hit free agency after this season and while he said he wants to stay with the Pacers, things could change if he has another good season and teams come after him with money. Stephenson was long the player with talent who couldn't get it together, but after coming in and taking over for Danny Granger after his knee injury last season, he was solid through the year and the playoffs and the team likely would not have made it as far as they did without him in the lineup and this season he has been off to a good start as well with Granger out again. Trade talk has already come up for Granger and that will continue throughout the season, especially if Stephenson can play like he did down the stretch and in the postseason, as he was solid against Miami in the Heat series and the opposition had to account for him when he was on the floor.
The Pacers have the chance to make a nice run in the East this season and getting off to a good start will help, as they could possibly get the number one seed in the conference. By doing that the team would have home court advantage over the Miami Heat and other teams in the playoffs and that could be all they need to finally get past the team after matching up with them over the past couple seasons. The Heat are still the favorites in the East this season after making it to the finals in each of the past three years and they obviously have also won two championships in that time span. The game on Wednesday will be on ESPN and streaming online and will also be on the WatchESPN site and on ESPN radio.