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Deng, Bulls set to visit Pacers

Dec 12, 2007 - 2:26 PM Chicago (7-12) at Indiana (10-11) 7:00 pm EST

INDIANAPOLIS (Ticker) -- The Chicago Bulls appear to be back on track after an awful start.

The Bulls aim for their sixth win in the last eight games when they visit the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.

A trendy pick to win the Eastern Conference before this season, Chicago got off to a terrible start, losing 10 of its first 12 games.

Preseason contract squabbles were blamed for poor starts by Ben Gordon and Luol Deng, and an inability to generate any offense in the post doomed Chicago in the early going.

But the Bulls turned a corner with a win over Atlanta on November 27 and beat Seattle, 123-96, on Tuesday behind 47 points from Deng and Gordon and 19 points from Joe Smith, who started at center.

The Pacers suffered a 118-105 loss at Cleveland on Tuesday, but Mike Dunleavy scored 23 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists. The sixth-year swingman is averaging 16.5 points per game - the best output of his career.

Indiana is 2-2 over its last four games but has scored over 100 points in each contest.