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Bulls look to contain Oladipo as Pacers come to town Friday night

By Jason Elbaum

CHICAGO, IL - OCTOBER 6: Bobby Portis #5 and Denzel Valentine #45 of the Chicago Bulls with their teammates stand for the National Anthem before the preseason game against the Milwaukee Bucks on October 6, 2017 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)
CHICAGO, IL - OCTOBER 6: Bobby Portis #5 and Denzel Valentine #45 of the Chicago Bulls with their teammates stand for the National Anthem before the preseason game against the Milwaukee Bucks on October 6, 2017 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Coming off a loss to Toronto, the Chicago Bulls look to bounce back on their home court in their 10th game of the season against the Indiana Pacers. They’ll be in for a tough matchup against high-flying shooting guard Victor Oladipo.

The Chicago Bulls currently stand at 2-7 on the young season, a season where fans are more likely to be rooting for the team to lose games for lottery purposes than cheering their team on to the Eastern Conference Playoffs. However, there is still reason for optimism around head coach Fred Hoiberg‘s group of young players.

Seventh overall pick Lauri Markkanen out of Arizona has been a huge bright spot for the Bulls, as he leads the team with 15.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game in a starting role. In addition, power forward Bobby Portis returned from his eight-game suspension to post 21 points and 13 rebounds against Toronto on  Tuesday night.

The Bulls will face a hungry Indiana Pacers team on Friday night as they come to town trying to rid themselves of their recent losing streak of four games. The Pacers stand at 5-7 and have started the season resembling a talented team that is going to need time for their new pieces to mesh together.

The most notable of their new pieces is shooting guard and former Indiana Hoosier Victor Oladipo. The former second overall pick was sent to the Pacers along with Domantas Sabonis in the trade that sent Paul George to Oklahoma City. 

Oladipo has emerged as the No. 1 option in the Indiana offense, averaging a career-high 22.8 points per game on 45.9 percent shooting. He has also shown drastic improvement in his 3-point shooting numbers, as he is up to 45.3 percent this season as opposed to 36.1 percent last season.

Victor Oladipo’s numbers are based on a small sample size, but there is no question that he will be an integral part of Chicago’s gameplan to get a win over the Pacers. The Bulls will need to force Oladipo to take mid-range jump shots and challenge him at the rim to avoid a highlight play like the one below.

For Chicago, the responsibility of staying in front of Oladipo will be charged to shooting guard Justin Holiday, who struggled to guard DeMar DeRozan on Tuesday night. It’ll take a complete team effort defensively if the Bulls want any chance of slowing Oladipo down.

Next: 2017-18 Week 4 NBA Power Rankings

Overall, the matchup between the Pacers and Bulls should feature a fast pace, high-flying dunks, and minimal defense. I expect Victor Oladipo and the rest of the Pacers offense to find their rhythm and play angry in a win over the Bulls to snap their four-game losing streak.

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