Bulls aim to continue momentum in matchup vs. Pacers

Potential home court advantage in an Eastern Conference first-round playoff series is within reach for the Indiana Pacers, if only the team could solve its woes on the road.Indiana enters Monday’s visit to the Chicago Bulls with three losses in five games, falling on the road each time. Separate defeats in Atlanta on Thursday and Saturday came by eight combined points.Indiana resides in fifth place in the East, one game behind Milwaukee and one ahead of Detroit, which both are in action on Sunday.”We are where we are now,” the Pacers’ Quenton Jackson said. “It can’t get no worse.”Perhaps the way Saturday’s game ended influenced Jackson’s assessment. Trailing by three points with 7.1 seconds to go, the Pacers moved the ball up the floor. Pascal Siakam had possession with time ticking down, but instead of attempting a game-tying 3-pointer, he took an open dunk, apparently unaware of the situation.There wasn’t enough time left for another shot when Atlanta’s Trae Young split a pair of free throws to ice the game with Indiana forced to foul.”They were grabbing me, and I just went and I didn’t think,” Siakam said.Indiana welcomed the return of Bennedict Mathurin, who scored 30 points after a four-game absence with a wrist injury. Facilitating the attack has been a concern during the recent slide. Tyrese Haliburton is questionable after missing both Atlanta games with a strained left hip flexor. Reserve point guard T.J. McConnell sprained his right ankle in the first quarter Saturday and didn’t return.Chicago has won two straight for the first time since Jan. 4-6 as it starts to make strides during clutch situations. The Bulls edged Orlando and Miami on a brief, two-game road trip, as the Bulls pursue both teams for positioning in the East play-in tournament.The Bulls were four games clear of Philadelphia for the conference’s No. 10 seed entering Sunday.