Road Warriors: The end is near for Pacers travel

The Road Warriors series will be highlighting the Indiana Pacers road trips and how they have fared historically in opposing arenas. This time, the team has a quick pit stop in Chicago.

The Indiana Pacers have played five of their first eight games of the season on the road.  Friday night will make it six out of nine, but the end is near!  After Friday night’s battle with the Chicago Bulls, the Pacers will play six of their next eight at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

The Blue and Gold narrowly escaped a frightening game against the Knicks on Halloween night (sorry for no Road Warriors for that one, but Indiana improved to 84-91 all-time against New York).  Domantas Sabonis put on his Superman costume, racking up 30 points on a perfect 12/12 from the floor.  Victor Oladipo continued his heroics, draining two late three-pointers to bury the Knicks for good.  The Pacers moved to 5-3 on the season in the early going.

But that’s the past. Let’s talk Bulls.

According to Land of Basketball, this will be the 185th regular season meeting between Indiana and Chicago.  The Bulls currently lead the series 97-87 all-time.  The Pacers have an absolutely abysmal record in Chicago, despite their close proximity, with a 25-66 record at the United Center.  They split the away series last season 1-1.

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Chicago has stumbled out of the gates to start the new campaign, as evidenced by their 2-6 record.  The height of their struggles came at the hands of the Golden State Warriors, who decided to show no mercy, scoring 92 points in the first half alone.  The Bulls have a young core lead by Zach LaVine, who appears to have recovered from his ACL injury.  They are also on a wait-and-see relationship with hometown hero Jabari Parker.  The talent has never been in doubt for Parker, but his durability is another topic.  He is only 23 years old and is still a lightning in a bottle player.

It seems this season that no game is going to come easy for the Pacers, and history tells us this one will be no different.  LaVine is averaging over 28 points per game while Bobby Portis is racking up 10 rebounds per contest.  Where there is an opportunity for the Pacers comes in the paint.

The Indiana Pacers have two legitimate offensive bigs in Myles Turner and Sabonis.  The Pacers need to attack the paint and look for the open man on the perimeter (a sentiment shared by much of the Pacers fan community).  If there is ever a time to test a modern NBA offensive scheme for Nate McMillan, Friday night’s game would be a perfect one.  Ball movement will be key as the biggest issues in the Pacers offense have come from a lack of sharing.

Prediction: Pacers bigs are too much for the Bulls to handle. Pacers win 98-91.

What’s in Town?

In my 22 years as an Indiana resident, my favorite weekend escape was Chicago.  I could probably drive the South Loop with my eyes closed.  This might be the easiest game for Pacers fans to travel. If you are headed up, try to stay indoors as the temperatures will drop into the low 40’s around tip-off in the wind capital of the world.

If you’re taking the weekend to spend time in Chi-Town, Saturday looks more promising with a high of 54 and sunny.  Concert-wise the only notable one I’ve seen is Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons playing at the Auditorium Theatre.  If none of that appeals to you, James Harden and the Rockets are in town on Saturday as the Bulls play a back-to-back. There’s a ton to do in Chicago, so if you travel I’m sure you’ll figure something out.