Bulls Debut New Players, Fall to Pacers

The Bulls fell to the Indiana Pacers last night despite a 28-point scoring outburst from Ben Gordon.  The Pacers were able to pull away in the fourth quarter of a contest that was pretty close most of the way, winning the game 98-91.  Tyrus Thomas and Luol Deng both scored in double figures, as did new arrival John Salmons.  Salmons and Brad Miller both logged at least 20 minutes for the Bulls in their first game with the team.  Salmons scored 12 points and dished out three assists while Miller grabbed 10 rebounds in the contest.  Tim Thomas, who was also acquired in a trade last week, contributed five points in eight minutes off the bench.

The Bulls did not upset their starting lineup in this contest, starting Derrick Rose, Gordon, Deng, Thomas and Joakim Noah, but things may be shaken up a bit as the new guys mesh with the rest of the team.  There’s a good chance that Miller becomes the starting center over Noah, while Salmons and Thomas are likely to remain reserves.  Salmons, though, figures to get significant minutes as one of the first guys off the pine.  Regardless of who starts, it appears that Vinny Del Negro is prepared to go forward with a nine-man rotation that includes the eight aforementioned players and Kirk Hinrich.

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